Office Space

 Since we moved to the new apartment, I told my husband that I needed my own work station. I have been working diligently in getting the extra bedroom aka the office set up for 1.) my sister in law who came to visit us last weekend and 2.) a place that I could actually work at.

The first thing was to get the desk cleared off, so that I could have a place to sit my laptop. Check. Then I needed cute accessories to spruce it up. Finally, I needed a bulletin board to place all my fun things on. I already had one, but hated the design. It is a yellowish board with pineapples on it. It's fine, just not my style. So the refurbishing had to begin. Here we go.

Here's the old board with the new fabric. It was $3.00 a yard at Joann's Fabrics, so I had to get 2 yards. 

Up close of the super cute hound's tooth. 

In progress.

All ribbon has been attached.

Now with buttons to hide the staples and hanging on the wall.

Now with fun pictures. If you're wondering that is a note from my husband that says "I thought bacon was the greatest thing ever... then I met you." I feel so loved. 

And here is my desk complete with a Mac laptop and Wall-E figurine.

Here is a better view with all my office supplies and my chair. It may not seem like a bit deal, but I have been wanting a writing desk forever! At the old apartment it just wasn't possible, but now I have a nice quiet place to work. Love it!

- Jana

Not Forgotten

I didn't forget that I had a blog. I always had it in the back of my mind that once things "settled down" that I would immediately get back to blogging. After all, I wouldn't want to let down my 3 loyal followers. We moved. My husband accepted a job in the big city, so we spent plenty of time packing and running all over the place enjoying the time between jobs.

Now we are in DFW, and loving every minute. It's a huge change, but the closeness of good friends, family, and more places to eat than we know what to do with have certainly softened the blow. The new exciting things about our new apartment are 1.) we have cable!, 2.) we have a fireplace, 3.) we have about 100 more square feet, and 4.) we have curtains in the living room!

I know these aren't super exciting changes, but they are for us. For years the Husband and I have wanted a fireplace that we could curl up in front of and watch a movie. Now all we need is a freeze this winter. Oh yes, the new curtains. You would like see a picture? Of course.

They look much better in real life than they do in the picture. The design reminds me of Ballard Designs a bit, and I just love that place. Check it out on-line if you aren't familiar with their products. These came from Lowes. I had a gift card from my mother in law that she gave me maybe 3 years ago that I hadn't spent.  Since this window gets a lot of heat during the day, we needed some blackout curtains. We originally had some black curtains with a tan swirly pattern on them. They were very pretty, but they didn't really go with any of our stuff. So I returned them and got these.

I never knew that having curtains that didn't match could make you sad. Every time I looked at the old ones I just became sad. First world problems, I know. But these are cheery and I smile every time I look at them. The real trick now is working in subtle splashes of teal. I have several vases and candlesticks that are the right color and will brighten up the room. I just have to find. That's right. We've been here 2 months and still have boxes and boxes that have not been unpacked. Thankfully, Husband doesn't equate my value as a wife with the number of boxes piled up in the office. :) He rocks like that.

  - Jana

Year 1

  The other day the Husband and I had our 1 year anniversary. That's right. 1 whole year together. How about a recap?

We got married. A good day to start. That day the girls and I ate Chick fil a twice and watched NCIS episodes on DVD while doing our hair. 

We eventually made it to Canada for our Honeymoon after 2 cancelled flights, and a day later than planned. The airlines lost our luggage, and we didn't have clean clothes for half the trip and Husband was sick for the other half.

A month later, I graduated with my Master's degree. 

We moved into the apartment.

We sold the house.

I spent a lot of time driving through Texas for work. We spent Thanksgiving with both families. 

But got Christmas Day to ourselves after celebrating early with my family and late with Husbands. He got me a Keurig. I got him a video game. We went to Ruidoso and rang in the new year during a blizzard and a power outage. My best friend got engaged. My Brother got engaged.

Then came the epic snow day where we got 4 days off of work! I think you might remember that.

We flew off to London with Husband's family and had ourselves a grand time. 

My Brother married a beautiful and wonderful woman.

Husband's best friend did the same.

Then we celebrated 1 year together. 

Happy 1 year anniversary to my Husband, although this post is a week late, but you knew that about me. 

June Cleaver

  Apparently there is a very fine line between blackened beef and your apartment being filled with smoke.  I have never blackened anything intentionally before. There seems to be an art to it. I wasn't aware of this fact until the kitchen was completely filled with smoke and my husband was trying to fan it away from the fire alarm, which works by the way. We ended up with an ok meal and dining al fresco inside our apt with all the windows and doors open and fans on. This was last night. Tonight all the pans that I happen to blacken as well still reside in the kitchen sink.
   - Jana

AHHHHH!

 The neighbor children are outside having a screaming contest. In this competition everyone loses.
     - Jana