My Awesome Day.

After taking houseguest #4 to the airport today, I went to Ikea. I bought two drawer bottoms for 3 frickin' dollars each because mine warped during the winter and now one doesn't fit in the little grooves anymore. I know I could've gone to Home Depot and gotten something sturdier, but knowing me, it was worth ponying up the 6 bucks.

I also bought a plant stand, and sawed the legs off because it was too tall. (We have a saw! My dad bought it for me last year, and I thought it was funny. Now, I'm just grateful we had it.) Well, G did most of the sawing because...well, he had better control. This replaces the box I've been using for the past 11 months. (I'd been waiting to find something small enough!)

I also made a little desk shelf out of cabinet legs and a shelf piece from the As Is section. I didn't gain that much space, but now things are a little more spread out and less cluttered.

While we were gone, the landlady had a new toilet installed (smaller tank! shiny and new!) and re-caulked our sink.

I had a hot dog and some canned baked beans for dinner, because I was trying to avoid eating cheese for dinner and just ended up being hungry and cranky. Now I feel kinda weird. Similar to the feeling I get when I eat poptarts or triscuits. Mmmm processed foods.

Now I'm catching up on blogs, but I'm really not in the mood to focus.

And that was my awesome day.

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Color Shock. (Or, D would be proud.)

Hello goldfish! Hello kid with eye!

So we went to Ikea again. Went yesterday, went the week before. G now has a desk, some drawers, and he also bought the sofa. Man. The Sofa. I'm grateful he put the money down for it, but to be honest, I'm in shock. Yes, I chose the color (only after much agonizing), yes I was hopeful that it would work, but now...it's just so damn red. Everything else is neutral, because I hadn't committed to colors yet. (I have blue accessories because I was hoping to go for teals and browns.) Even G was nice and bought a lighter colored desk because I'm afraid that dark furniture will make the room feel smaller.

So, people who have been pestering me about posting, what do you think? Am I just freaking out, or is it really too dominating? It's not the most pleasant red. I took a lot of pictures to try and capture this. Leans just a bit towards orange. Or is it okay, and I just need more red friendly accessories? Here's the web page. I'm leaning towards something nice and safe like beige. That would play much nicer with my teal pillow cases that I love:

The big pillow is a zabuton and will live on the floor. The small pillow I just love.

Yep, the recliner's still there. Just might stay there too.

There's G's J-textbook in the corner. He's taking one class so far, from 11:30-12:20, every day.
How's that for inconvenient?

And if it really is a bad idea, no guilt about that. We can exchange the cover (the couch stays, dammit--I want that couch) because we have to return a tv stand. There are two sizes of that particular tv stand, and we got the larger one. 66". Bleh.

On a happier note, G splurged on some LEDs that pleasantly fade from color to color. He's thinking about pimping out the kitchen, or maybe the living room, or heck, both. They're like grown-up Christmas lights, and I love them.

So I'm imploring you, (all three or four of you), help me. Make me feel better or convince me to change it. Right now I'm just uncomfortable about it. Sad.

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August was a busy month.

Hello blog-friends, sorry about neglecting y'alls.

I was temping, blue-eyed Adalew came to visit, Kr. and her boyf came to visit, life was busy. Currently I've been hanging out with JH and RL who are in town for the weekend. (That ups the total number of visiting JETs to 5! Gwyn, you're next.) Tomorrow will be troll and salmon day (Fremont and the Ballard fish ladders). I'm currently unemployed and will be heading down to SoCal next week with boyfriend in tow. High school friend's wedding. I can't wait to introduce him.

Ah yes, and August was busy because I have my koibito back. Sorry. He has stocked my fridge well (cheese and pesto), and encouraged me to clean up more often. He does my endless supply of dishes and brought over his PS2. We've been watching Azumanga Daioh, which is an anime about high school students. Kind of wacky, but highly natsukashii. It's comforting to see the classrooms again, even in cartoon form.

So far the apartment doesn't seem too small with him around, and I'm definitely adding more homey touches to the place (a few plants and more clutter). Pictures are an order, but while the weather is nice and I'm not employed, I won't be spending much time on the computer. Sorry folks.

Ah yes, and I also have a new hobby, geocaching. Think of it as scavenger hunting with a GPS device. Downright addictive for me. There will be a post about that too, someday.

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Sourdough Bread (and the typical tangents.)

I bought sourdough bread (should've been something sweeter like french, but oh well) and avacados. Guess what I'll be eating for the next few days? Yum Yum Yum. (Man, that was Tuesday I had avacado on bread? Damn, this week went by fast.)

Eating sourdough bread makes me think of this one friend of mine who only ate sourdough bread. Only. Didn't matter what kind, if it was bagged and sliced, or crusty in a paper bag, but it was always sourdough. I'd always sneak a slice when we hung out, because I knew it'd be gone in a day or two. (Who goes through a loaf of bread in two days??) Funny that I thought of that.

Today was a "buy stuff" day. Not exactly retail therapy--although I came home with some neat stuff--just picking up stuff here and there. Curtains for the closet (not sure if I like them), a fan (a nice fan!), food...all that plus G's box which arrived yesterday, and my apartment is trashed. Don't worry, I took pictures, and I'll post them later.

(Dude, he sent me my hair dryer. Uhm, I guess it'll be nice to have if my brand new one ever breaks. And to be fair, I might've asked him to send it to me ages and ages ago. He also sent me candy, D's spice shaker she bought for my birthday, oh, two years ago?, and a kimono. A kimono! I don't know how to dress myself in a kimono! And I don't have the right obi! Or tabi! Sigh. It's pretty though.)

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Curtains, but not the important ones.

The white walls are driving me crazy. Today I think I decided what I want to do with my little un-hallway. My dad hung the lanterns for me, and even rigged all the light cords. All I have to do is find light bulbs that will fit. Did you know that those little candle shaped bulbs aren't supposed to be hung upside down? Dammmmit. I need to visit Home Depot and just look at every damn bulb they sell.

Look! The vacuum cleaner that I haven't tried out yet!

Turquoise first, red in the closet.
But redder than that scarf I hung to test.

I think I want to put a red curtain on the left side to cover the closet, and put a deep but bright teal-turquoise curtain on the right side(to curtain off the kitchen when I cook). Hopefully, I can find a blue curtain that somewhat matches my big lantern. The red curtain will be closed most of the time, and the turquoise one will be open most of the time. I like the idea of a red curtain on the kitchen side, or any bright color, but I'm also getting very attached to the tranquil blues and sea greens in the kitchen. I'm not a bright riot-of-colors person, but like I said, the whiteness is getting to me. And it's such a small space, I feel like I can get away with it.

I'm still attached to greens in the bedroom, but I need to find curtains and a bedspread or comforter to seal the deal. Well, I think the curtains will be the clincher. I think the bedding will just be chosen spontaneous, and I keep leaning towards blue sheets anyway.

No decision on the living room yet. But it might end up being browns and neutrals, and I kind of want to use light, warm colors because it's such a dark room. My furniture is in the following colors: three different kinds of wood, bright white, and brown-black. And that comfy pink recliner. So much for a well-designed living room.

Here, have some pictures!

Man I'm behind on the picture updates. I guess that's what happens when I actually have a job. Ha.

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Decorating is frustrating.

I spend a lot of time looking at design blogs, trying to figure out how to decorate my apartment. And I see these great color schemes, with the base colors with the pretty accessories in some unimaginably perfect accent color. So do people go out and buy all those little vases and trinkets all at once? Or do they accumulate them one by one? Doing it the first way seems like a big waste of money to me. On top of that, I like my trinkets to have meaning...or at least be really awesome. As for the other way, building the perfect collection of Blue Things piece by piece seems too slow to me. Especially since I take forever to make decisions.

I'm just getting so tired of these white walls.

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State of the Apartment 6.08.07

And while I'm thinking about it, here's the current state of my apartment. Cleaner than my Japan apartment ever was, and still pretty empty.

My floor cushion is larger than the table.
Now that I have internet, I only seem to use it for my food pictures. Hehe.

Maybe put a lamp on top of the dresser?
Or hang something from the ceiling?

Bedside table on the left side, with a lamp.(See post below on lamp choices.)
Also, I'll make my bed once I have real bed linens, thank you very much.

Target bench and adopted recliner.
Curse the walls for not being a true white.

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Opinions?

More fabulous stuff from Ikea. I'm looking for a bedside table lamp (the top three) and a light for the dark corner on top of my dresser (bottom three). What do you think? Will there be problems with styles clashing?

Also, do I need a headboard for my bed? All of my beds after moving out had tall-ish frames that made headboards unnecessary.

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Platform beds and other nonsense.

I don't get them. I mean, they're pretty and sleek and probably the best futon-real bed hybrid, but the edge? Wouldn't you always smack your shin when you got into bed? Or would you leap into bed? Step up? (Hee hee.) And I would miss the storage space under the bed.

I've been picking out more Ikea furniture. Save for a few items (target bench, G's bed, hand-me-down recliner, kitchen table and chairs), my entire apartment will be furnished by Ikea. It's economical and saves me the time of combing through craigslist I suppose, but I'm also afraid that my apartment will look like a dorm because all the furniture matches. It's frustrating picking out stuff without knowing what colors I want to use (everything's currently a light beech so it doesn't make the room seem smaller). It helps that my dad is coming up this weekend with the rest of my stuff. More knick knacks and some stuff to put on the walls. Oh yeah, and my kitchen table, coffee table, stand mixer, and a ton of other stuff I don't want to think about cluttering up my precious space.

Ganked from virtual tourist, who wants a link if I use the photo. ehhh...

I think I'll put my Vietnamese lanterns in the little un-hall space that joins the bathroom, living room, and kitchen. It'll be a color riot (teal, purple and green), but I want to use them without making my (entire) apartment look all Oriental. Or hippy-ish. Or does simply using them make everything look too exotic? I've been combing the design blogs, and I've only seen one room use Asian lanterns, and it was the workspace for a crafty woman who runs a shop called Double Happiness Designs. While I still haven't decided how I feel about Caucasian women running Asian-themed shops, her stuff isn't that bad, she doesn't seem to be an Asia-phile (is there a real word for that?), and her room doesn't seem that Oriental.


While I was researching light bulbs for my lanterns, I found a wikipedia entry on the (supposed) World's Longest Lasting Light Bulb. It's kind of silly that it would be this famous (they even have a webcam for it), but it also totally seems like something Japan would do. Except if this were Japan, there'd be a mascot.

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Latest Acquisition!

I got a bed! G's college bed (which is a full, not a queen). His dad dropped it off today. It's fricking high. Thick mattress, box frame, tall bed frame. It's really weird how much closer to the ceiling I am now. I've only had it for about...seven hours, but every time I walk into the bedroom, I have to roll around on the bed. I have a bed again! No more borrowed futon on the floor! It's very exciting. Soon I can start obsessing about sheets and duvets and how to hide the casters without getting a ruffly bedskirt.

Here's one more shot for you to fully appreciate the lovely late afternoon sun...at 8:12pm. So awesome!

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Target trip

Purchases: this pillow, hopefully for the green-black-white bedroom and super glue for one of my poor broken chawan. (Thankfully one from college, not a handmade Japan one.)

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Color Ideas

Bedroom: light green (not sure if I want to lean towards yellow or blue), accented by black and white, maybe a little light blue. Like this, but no checkerboard. (Although I would totally do that in a kitchen or bathroom if I had the money and the burning desire to redo the floors):



Kitchen: As the carpet is industrial slate blue (a plus while I sit on the floor, quiet crappy once I start cooking and spilling), I think it'll have to be my blue room. What else can I do really? My plates are blue too. There's this awesome mirror I love, but I think it's only because it's reflecting the colors I want. Someday I'll have a room stylish enough for it (and the pocketbook to pay for it. Almost $200, F that.)



I'd love to sneak in some minimal red accents, like a red tea kettle or a photo of the HEP 5 roller coaster in Osaka (...the red one, with the red whales in the mall, seen it?), but I'd also settle for fitting this photo of my backyard in--just the photo, not necessarily the colors:


No clue about the living room yet. I feel like it should be warm tones, just because I'm going for blue and green in the other rooms. I wish I could furnish things with a bit more sophistication, but without a job, I suppose it's wisest to stick to ikea for now. And I'm not really a showroom sophistication sort of person anyway. Been spending too much time with the Crate and Barrel catalog. Bah.

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Thursday, Day 6

Researched storage containers (how the hell do you convert quart storage to pound storage? I found tips for flour and sugar, but what about brown sugar? Powdered sugar? Cream of Wheat? Do you see why this takes me so long), attempted to shower numerous times, finally succeeding around 3pm. Tried to determine if any Macy's stock the microwave I bought last week, because online Macy's got it on sale for 10 bucks cheaper (doesn't seem to exist in the Seattle area).

Finally forced myself to leave at 7pm for a stroll to the grocery store. (15 minutes, along an interesting street.) Trips to the grocery store are a lot more pleasant when it's no longer necessary to haul milk and juice home. I bought salad stuff, a little cheese, and a couple cans of tomato soup. I did not buy tuna, mayonnaise, or anything else heavy that I wanted. Go me.

I walked home, wondering where Dave Matthews lives.

I had a huge salad for dinner. No meat, and still full! Amazing. Wow, I think today was completely vegetarian. Whoops. I guess it helps that the only meat I have in here is lunch meat and a bit of beef jerky. I wonder what essential nutrients I missed out on.

Well, iodine for one. I accidentally bought un-iodized salt, and even though it was 67 cents, I can't bring myself to toss it. I'm sure there's enough iodized salt in the processed crap I eat...which I really don't eat that often. Oh well. I highly doubt I'll get a goiter.

Didn't get horribly sick from the taco-mobile. Hooray! Although I did pass out for a bit, but I think that's because the apt isn't clean enough, or my hair wasn't dry enough, or something mundane like that.

I think tomorrow will be Ikea day. Dresser, small cart for the bathroom, hopefully very few knickknacks. I'd like to get some floor pillows, although so far I've only seen picnicky ones. I didn't think I'd miss zabuton, but there ya go. I should probably just break down and buy that couch, although big purchases like that scare me. And I'm still not satisfied with the living room layout.

I hate that I'll probably make numerous trips to Ikea, just like Target (I already have a handful of things I want to return) and Fry's. But I just can't plan an entire apartment in one go. The current stumbling block is trying to accessorize everything in blue, because, well, I like blue. But even I've realized that a blue living room, kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom is overkill. The bathroom and kitchen are already blue by fate of stuff I already own. I'd love to get a sage green (like my mixer!) into the bedroom or living room, but right I'm so overwhelmed with everything else that I can't make up my mind.

So here's a new call for opinions (onegai!): colors for the living room and bedroom. I'm not sure I want to paint yet, but I know I'll need to buy sheets and a couch.

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Time to help me furnish my apartment.

Help me! D, I know you've been waiting for this. Everyone else can play too.

So, here I have this lovely empty apartment, and I need to start filling it with crap. Well, not clutter-crap, I have plenty of that waiting to be unpacked--but real crap, like furniture. I think I'll be borrowing G's bed (a huge queen! I don't need that!), and I've got a coffee table, a small bookshelf, and a small bedstand/end table. That's it.

So you've seen the spaces, now I need some advice. Where do I put everything?

Here's my awesome bedroom thus far:


The lump on the right will be a dresser of some sort, and I might want to put a desk in front of the window. But it's a nice bright window, and it'd be great to have a bright place to sit and read. And yes, I need a nice wide dresser (up to the window), because the closet space is tiny.

Here's the living room:



The boxes on the bottom are where I think I want the couch to go. I've got enough space for a three-seater, right? So here's the problem: where to put a desk? I think there'll be two desks total, so I was thinking, maybe one in the left corner facing the wall, one on the left side of the windows? But I love the view, and was thinking about putting this bench there.

It's the perfect size. If I didn't have to worry about desks and a tv stand, I'd put two under the window, or maybe one with two end tables on the ends, but then you'd lose the wall to lean on. But yeah. I want to go out and buy things, but I also know I need to plan this out.

So what do you guys think? Two desks cluttering the living room, which doesn't have much natural light, or one in the bedroom, sacrificing the bright corner? And what about the bench idea?

Help meeee!

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The Joy of Acquisition.

I went to bed at two and woke up around 6 or 7 two days in a row. I was barely human on Saturday, when I went to the church (temple) used furniture sale at 7am. I'm still kind of out of it now (Sunday), but I got some good stuff--a shoe rack that I had seen at a real store, a collapsible bookcase painted an amusing shade of green, a small outdoor table (also collapsible), and a sweet coffee table.

The coffee table I'm especially proud of. It's sleek and solid and there's even a page on the web devoted to it. On the underside, the maker, design patent number, style number, and serial number are all branded on. My coffee table has a serial number. Kinda awesome if you ask me. It's probably too big, but it's at a great height for eating. If it's wide enough for a set up of Settlers of Catan, then I'm totally set.

Hmmm. Board games. If anyone sees Looping Louie for under 40USD (including shipping), let me know. It's become the next thing to lust after...

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