Design on a Dime

As promised, I'll let you in on my great plans for decorating our first place.

Living Room - Grey, yellow, black, and white
We haven't bought a couch for the living room yet.  We figure it would just be simpler to purchase it after we arrive in NC, but when we do buy our couch it will look something like this:

We'll use the yellow throw pillows that I wrote about last week.  We'll have other yellow accents such as:

A fun yellow and white rug

Yellow curtains for our sliding glass door

Robert already has a black tv stand and two black end tables.  We hope to purchase a black coffee table as well.  We'll finish it off with some yellow and white artwork on the walls.

Kitchen - Blue
We already have our wonderful Noritake dishes.

Aren't they perfect?

We'll continue the blue polka dot theme with our place mats.

Best part - They're water and stain resistant!

We have a water and stain resistant tablecloth that is brown as well.  For fancy occasions we'll use our wonderful china from Robert's Mamaw.  The china is classic and has a silver trim around the edges.  When we use the china we'll use a black tablecloth, red runner, and white cloth napkins.

Master Bedroom - Purple and white
We're using my bedroom set which I love. :)  It's a chest of drawers and headboard by Vineyard.  It's stained kind of a medium brown.  I already have a down alternative comforter, so we'll just be covering with with a duvet.  Here's our bedding:

iloveitsomuch!

Master Bathroom - Green and charcoal

It doesn't look very green in this picture, but it does in real life.

This towels supposedly dry 30% faster than the average towel.  We'll see.

Guest Bedroom - Brown
We'll primary use this room as an office space so Robert can study and I can potentially work from home some.  We have a futon that is actually incredibly comfortable that we'll keep in here and unfold when guests come to visit.  We'll be hanging up a large canvas painting that Robert had a friend paint for my Christmas present last year.  It's brown. :)

Guest Bathroom - Cardinals!
We were surprised to find out two weeks ago that we'll have two bathrooms.  Robert had joked about decorating our one and only bathroom with Cardinals.  I vetoed that.  But now that we have a second bathroom I suggested that we show our support for the red birds.  I think I scored some major "World's best fiance" points with Robert.

Our shower curtain which will be accompanied by a Cardinals rug.

What do you think of everything?

Our First Place

I've been waiting until I had a good chunk of time to devote to divulging all of the details about our first place.  Now that I've finished absolutely all of my graduate coursework (EEK!), it's basically summer break which means it doesn't matter that it's nearly 1:00 a.m. because I get to sleep in tomorrow!  Here are the dets (or is it deats?):

We got our number one choice for housing.  YES!  We visited SEBTS during spring break of 2011.  Let's reminisce for a moment.

Enjoying a relaxing (but chilly) day at the beach

At the Wright Brothers' Museum

So many gorgeous plants!

Insanity

Here are some pictures of places we looked at but will not be living

One of the few moments I was vertical during the visit.  I stayed in the car during the entire tour.  Made throwing up every few minutes much easier.  After the tour, Robert and I went and looked at open housing on our own.

Not living here - excited that we got a bathroom that has a counter and cabinet/drawer

Not living here either

Retro?

Too expensive

Maybe we'll have an upstairs one day. :)

Nope.

Okay, you guys - this is our first place!  Loving the hardwood floors, sliding glass door, patio, white trim, and overall cleanliness!

My first kitchen.  (Feeling like death warmed over at this point)  It comes with the fridge (SCORE!).  We obviously have a full-sized oven.  It doesn't have a little window, but it's better than the miniature stove that was in some of the other places.  We have a dishwasher, people!  Look at all of that cabinet space, too!  Stainless steel sink.  Ice maker.  We just don't have a garbage disposal, but I'd say it's a pretty sweet first kitchen, no?

While standing at the kitchen sink I'll be able to look out into the living room.  Maybe that will make doing the dishes more fun.  Right next to me you can see the coat closet.  There's also a walk-in pantry in the kitchen, but it isn't pictured.  I'm covering up the front door, but you can see the tile where you enter.

Laundry closet.  We don't have an official laundry room, but we do have a laundry closet in the hallway.  We can just close the doors, and it will be perfect.  Much better than having it in the kitchen which is how it was in some of the other units.

Guest bathroom - Notice the ample counter space along with cabinets and drawers.  There's even a bathtub! 

The master bathroom - It's pretty much the same.  There's a bathtub beside me.  Oddly enough, the master bathroom is slightly smaller than the guest bathroom.  Oh well.

His and her closets!!!  I don't look excited in this picture, but I guarantee you that if I hadn't just been to the edge of death and back I would totally be jumping up and down.

Guest bedroom - Visitors are always welcome.

Here are the details:

Flaherty Farms is a 228-unit apartment complex located 1.5 miles from the main campus. These apartments were built in 1998 and 1999.
This complex contains:

• 2-bedroom, 2-bath apartments - small floor plan (THIS IS WHAT WE GOT.)
• 2-bedroom, 2-bath apartments - large floor plan
• 3-bedroom, 2-bath apartments

Features:

• All apartments have a stove, ice-making refrigerator, dishwasher and washer/dryer connections.
• All apartments are equipped with heat pumps for heating and cooling.
• Mini-blinds and curtain rods are furnished for all windows.
• There is one designated parking space for each apartment and unassigned/undesignated parking spaces for one other vehicle.
• A trash compactor is provided by the seminary for trash disposal.
• Pets are not permitted at Flaherty Farms.

You can look at the layout of our house by following this link and scrolling down to 2 bedroom small - 860 square feet.

I've started brainstorming the design scheme which will be the inspiration for my next post.

Lasts

Add this to the lasts: Volunteered in the nursery for the last time Sunday - Robert and I have thoroughly enjoyed our time in the nursery with those cute kiddos.  Maybe we'll get to do something like that at our new church.

Last Sunday School social - We enjoyed a picnic lunch at the park after church.  Again, maybe we'll do something like that at our new church.

Went to my good friend/former suitemate's senior piano recital on Monday.  So good!

Double date in Springfield with a classmate.  We went to Maria's...not as good as El Rodeo.

Yesterday we made these gorgeous pillowcases.  ilovethemsomuch.  Jim had some unattractive but very comfortable pillows so we used them.  We bought fabric and lace at Margie Pearl's.  Robert picked the fabric.  I picked the lace.  Can I just say yet again that I love that Robert can get into this kind of stuff with me?  He's the best.  The wonderful Kim gave us a sewing tutorial.  Wowie wow wow!  I'm so pleased!

Now, for a story about the sale of the century.  Robert and I returned some items at JCP for a total of $100 credited to our bank account.  Cha ching!  But that's just the beginning.  We won a raffle but we didn't actually like any of the items.  We returned all of the items to Target and got a $45 gift card.  Not too bad for only having paid $5 for the raffle.  Anyway, we're registered at Bed Bath & Beyond so I looked at our registry and found similar products at Target and then deleted them from out BB&B registry.  We got a Swiffer with free wet and dry mops - plus it was $1 off, salt and pepper shakers, dust ruffle, and welcome mat.  We ended up paying $2.57 out of pocket.  Not too shabby.  Now here comes the big kahuna.  We had a BB&B in store credit of about $12.50 plus a $5 off coupon.  Last night I was looking at our registry to see what we could buy for essentially $17.50 so we wouldn't have to pay anything out of pocket.  While online I realized that Noritake is running a special.  Noritake is the brand of our dishes (place settings, platter, serving bowls).  For every $150 of Noritake items you buy you get a $25 BB&B gift card.  Well, we already have all of our Noritake dishes, but the deal just started yesterday.  I decided to go for it and ask a salesperson if I could still get the deal.  So we went to BB&B to use our in-store credit and coupon.  We got two glass oil bottles (we'll use one for oil and one for dish soap) and a hot pad.  Grand total out of pocket: a penny.  I was so proud of myself!  We went to customer service.  I told them about the dishes and said I would even be willing to return all of them and buy them again in order to get the gift cards.  The worker asked the store manager and got it approved for her to just give me the deal, but of course it couldn't just be that easy.  Apparently after our items were purchased they went on sale so it made everything more complicated.  Also, we were $2 away from getting an additional $25 gift card.  We even thought about buying a cheap Noritake item in order to get the extra $25, but the worker decided to give it to us anyway.  Every item needed a "turn key" which I learned means another associate has to come and turn the key in order to approve it.  Duh.  It was a pain and took 30 minutes, but gosh darn it, it was worth it.  75 bucks, baby.  Once we get another 20% off coupon we'll use that and our gift cards to buy our bread machine for free.  YESSSS!!!  This is what gets me excited - saving money!  If I let myself I know I could totally become one of those extreme couponers.  Must resist!

I'll leave you with a precious drawing we received yesterday.

I guess I made it

1. August 22 - Drury starts, 4 days til... DONE
2. August 26 - Mom's birthday, 8 days til...DONE
3. September 3 - Bethany gets married, 2 days til... JUST 4 MORE DAYS
4. September 5 - Dad's birthday AND Labor Day, 3 days til...
5. September 8 - My birthday, 34 days til...
6. October 12 - Organizational Communication ends, 2 days til...
7. October 14-23 - Fall break, 1 day til...
8. October 24 - Organizational Change starts, 6 days til...
9. October 30 - Saints game in St. Louis, 1 day til...
10. October 31 - Halloween, 22 days til...
11. November 22-26 - Alabama for Thanksgiving break, 18 days til...
12. December 14 - Organizational Change ends, 1 day til...
13. December 15 - Public Relations ends, 3 days til...
14. December 18-December 23 - Pennsylvania trip, 2 days til...
15. December 25 - Christmas, 8 days til...
16. January 2- Winter project begins, 15 days til...
17. January 17 - Spring semester starts, 10 days til...
18. January 27- Winter project ends, 49 days til...
19. March 16-26 - Spring break, 11 days til...
20. April 6 - Good Friday off, 1 day til...
21. April 7 - Jim's birthday, 1 day til...
22. April 8 - Easter, 29 days til...
23. May 10 - Graduation rehearsal, 1 day til...
24. May 11 - School ends, 1 day til...
25. May 12 - My graduation, 7 days til...
26. May 19 - Robert's graduation, 1 day til...
27. May 20 - Our wedding!

The Final Countdown

It's the month before the week of insanity - my graduation, Robert's graduation, and our wedding!  I can't believe it.  All of the excitement and busyness has left little time to blog.  Here's what's been happening lately.

Robert and I finally got to go to the Squeeze Inn in Stockton.  We tried to go one other time but it was closed.  Our dinner was very tasty!

We celebrated Jim's 26th birthday on April 7.  Following the party I proceeded to have my first meltdown about moving 1,100 miles away from my family.  Unfortunately, I see more meltdowns in my future.  The meltdown involved me laying face down crying into the carpet and leaving a mascara stain on the carpet.  Robert was awesome and very nice to me just like usual.  The meltdown ensued as I was thinking about how this was the last birthday party before we leave and the next day was going to be the last holiday (Easter) before we leave.  Having lived in Bolivar since I was just a few months old it's almost unfathomable to think about life outside of this wonderful, quaint town.  Sure, there are things I know I'll love about living in a larger town: more restaurant options, things to do past 9:00 p.m., awesome parks, more than one place to shop for clothing, and awesome sporting events.  But I'm starting to think about all the things I'll miss about Bolivar.  There are the obvious things: my family, my home, my church, my friends, El Rodeo, and 3 G's. :)  But now that the move is closer I'm starting to think about missing things that I never knew I even cared about.  For example, I went to my dentist last week for my last six month cleaning.  I found myself fighting back tears when I said goodbye to my dentist for the last time.  How ridiculous is that?  Anyway, here are some pictures from Jim's birthday celebration.