Batten Down the Hatches!

Miguel and I have been watching the Weather Channel a little obsessively since it became apparent that Hurricane Irene would indeed be making landfall along the East Coast.

While we won’t be nearly as affected as those directly along the coast, we are still taking precautions by filling our bathtub with water, clearing off the balcony, purchasing extra flashlights…oh, and cleaning the apartment.

Huh?? Yes, I said cleaning.

I’ve been so busy working on projects lately that I haven’t been able to get my regular cleaning done and it’s been driving me crazy as the apartment has been getting more and more out of control.

So with the threat of possible power outages looming on Sunday, I plugged in the vacuum after work today and cleaned this place like I’ve never cleaned before.

Yes, that’s right. I even vacuumed the window blinds.

After five years, my bedroom blinds were covered with a thick dust layer from constant cat shedding and a ceiling fan that runs 24/7. So embarrassment aside, I am posting this picture as a warning that this too can happen to you.

Picture does not do it justice but you get the disgusting point - dirty on the left vs. sparkling clean on the right!

I mean, when is the last time you checked the underside of your blinds??

Exactly! So the next time you take out your vacuum, I encourage you to put on the dust brush and wreak havoc on those dust balls!

Now it’s time to hit the hay and rest up for tomorrow and more storm preparation. I mean the bathrooms aren’t going to clean themselves – ha!

And the Verdict Is?

What could make a beautiful seventy-five degree Friday afternoon even better?

Getting an email that I was off the hook for jury duty on Monday!

Yup, I got summoned for jury duty a few months ago and have been dreading it ever since. So this news made my weekend!

Now I just have to cross my fingers that I’ll get off the hook for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday too.

Have a fabulous and creative weekend!

Home Alone and Inspired!

It’s Friday, I have the whole weekend ahead of me…and I feel a To Do list coming on!

My boyfriend is out of town for a week shooting footage for his documentary and the thought of him working and pursuing his dreams has inspired me to get seriously productive.

I have felt a bit unmotivated the past few weeks and have avoided posting any To Do lists for that very reason. But tonight I am feeling energized and motivated and therefore have decided to post my goals for this weekend…to ensure that I take action!

1. Try out idea for upcycling vintage bottles
2. Go to Ikea in search of new frames to spice up old artwork
3. Start redecorating apartment (specifically bedroom and living room)
4. Begin writing entry on the Happiness Project (most amazing book ever!)
5. Design and post Blog Love section

Wow, those are five meaty tasks to undertake but I’m excited to get going – especially the trip to Ikea (which happens to be one of my favorite stores in the world!!).

What are your goals for this weekend? And how do you keep yourself motivated and on task??

Treasure Hunt Finds

Having driven a fair distance for the ‘barn crawl’ this past weekend, I was pretty adamant about making it worth my while…which meant I wanted to find treasures everywhere we stopped.

Of course, finding things I want is always easy. The challenge is to find things I can a) afford and b) fit into my apartment.

Fortunately, I found a few treasures at each stop that fit into both categories! On the flip side, I think I may have started two new collections – oops!

Following is a photo diary of our shopping excursion and a list of the stores we searched!

First stop
Ekster Antiques
38532 Pheasant Hill Lane
Hamilton, VA 20158

Second stop
Baileywyck Shoppes
21197 St. Louis Road
Middleburg, VA 20117

Third stop
Victoria’s Past Tyme
760 East Main Street
Purcellville, VA 20132

The barn at Ekster

The barn surprised us with extra rooms of more goodies!

The interior was chock full of treasures!

There was so much to look at that I had to keep revisiting rooms

>My first purchase of the day! I think it will make a gorgeous terrarium

The mint condition vintage Coca-Cola machine at Baileywyck Shoppes was amazing!

I have always wanted a printer’s cabinet like this one!! Alas, it has to remain on my dream list…for now!

Detail of an incredible vintage pinball game – and yet another piece I couldn’t afford to take home!

My second purchase of the day…and the first piece of my new tin collection!

My third purchase was a Hagerstown Dairy container to add to my milk bottle collection

We noticed Victoria's Past Tyme along the road and had a feeling it would have lots of treasures to look at inside – and we were right!

I don’t know why but I have a thing for roosters…and I fell in love with this guy!

My fourth and last purchase of the day is a multi-utility grater...and the first piece of another new collection!

Who’s Ready for a Barn Crawl?

It takes a lot for me to be excited about getting up early on a Saturday, but I am so excited about tomorrow…and my first ever ‘barn crawl’!

What's a ‘barn crawl’ you might ask? Well it’s when you drive out to the country and shop for treasures in barns-turned-home design stores.

The Washington Post recently featured an article about this trend in our area and I couldn’t have been more excited to learn about new vintage inspired home design stores in my neck of the woods (pun intended)!

I can’t wait to share all my treasures with you…wish me luck!!!

Just Another Saturday Shooting B Roll

Early Saturday afternoon, my boyfriend got a call asking him to shoot an interview piece with singer Faith Evans, who was in town to perform at the DC Convention Center.

When he asked me to join him to shoot B roll, I was instantly excited and nervous. In the past, I would have quickly passed up on the opportunity - out of fear and uncertainty over what would happen - but these days I’m up for anything (within reason, mind you) and after a quick tutorial with his new camera, I felt ready to go!

And even though we did a lot of waiting as the ‘quick’ interview turned into an almost five hour event…I was never bored. Instead, I was fascinated by my surroundings and grateful for taking advantage of yet another new opportunity.

And after seeing some of my footage in the end piece, I’m starting to consider a third career as a videographer…or at least a B roll technician.

Here are a few of the behind-the-scenes photos I took just for you!

The equipment

Backstage @ the Convention Center

Faith hitting the stage!

My boyfriend – never without a camera!

I Support The Sign I’m Holding!

My mentality nowadays is to take advantage of any opportunity that presents itself. Which is why I made my way today (with tens – if not hundreds – of thousands of others) into the city for Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert’s “Rally to Restore Sanity”.

The crowd was so intense that I actually contracted claustrophobia at one point while trying to cross the National Mall to catch a peek of the stage.

Since I was never able to get close enough to actually see the stage, the event turned into more of an opportunity to people watch...and to take pictures of as many clever rally signs as possible. Some of the signs made me laugh out loud, some made me wince, but all were unique and witty! My top ten are listed below for your enjoyment – which is your favorite?

1. I Can See My Backyard From My House


2. I Hate Crowds


3. I Support The Sign I’m Holding


4. Don’t Teabag Me Bro


5. I Have S#!t To Do But I’m Here *Go Sanity*


6. The Only Thing We Have To Fear Are Bears And Terrorists – Lets Hope They Don’t Join Forces


7. WWJD (Who Wants Jelly Donuts?)


8. I’m PRO-GNOME And I Vote!


9. FART: Floridians Against Rational Thought


10. I Have A Pre-Existing Condition In My Pants!

No Seriously, Thank God It’s Friday!

Yup, that pretty much sums up how I feel at the moment.

Have a fabulous, fun, productive and (of course) relaxing weekend!

Pumpkin Picking in 80 Degrees

Friends

Pumpkins

And a bulldog puppy named Watson

That about sums up my Saturday - a great afternoon in the country!

Oh and it was over 80 degrees in the sun. It felt a little strange to be sweating while picking out pumpkins but I wasn’t complaining. It was simply nice to be outdoors and taking advantage of a beautiful ‘fall’ day.

I hope your weekend was just as lovely!

Mission Accomplished!

My weekend was a perfect balance of work and play.

I know it’s surprising, but that’s what happens when I put my TO DO list on blast. It sort of sits in the back of my mind and gives me the mother of all guilt trips.

So, even though it was absolutely perfect weather to go tubing, I made myself stay indoors and catch up on my work instead.

Then, after getting inspired by some of the BYW posts, I took to the streets with my cameras to work on an idea I had for my blog re-design.

It didn’t quite solidify till Sunday afternoon, but when it did I was super psyched at how it came out! And in an ironic twist, I ended up using the pictures taken with my iPhone instead of SLR. I won’t bore you with my plug for the iPhone 4, but it takes incredible pictures and you should go get one now!

After playing for a bit in Photoshop, I think I’m getting close to the final design and I’m excited to show it off! I just hope everybody likes it as much as I do.

So now’s the part where I fess up and admit that I didn’t accomplish everything on my TO DO list. I never got around to signing up for an Etsy store account and deep down I know that procrastination is trying to take hold to keep me from the next ‘big’ step. And it appears to be working, which is really annoying.

You’d think I’d just suck it up and do it right after I post this, but I’m feeling a bit tired so I think I’m going to turn the computer off instead and leave it for another day.

Sigggh, I seriously have some issues!

Does This Make Me Old?

It’s 9:45pm on a Friday night and I just got ready for bed.

Does that make me old?

At this moment, I don’t care what it makes me. I’m just happy that I got through this past week and have two days off of work!

And I plan to use those two days wisely. I’m even going to go out on a limb and post my goals for this weekend…with hopes that it’ll motivate me to actually stick to my TO DO list:

1. Sleep in

2. Sign up for an Etsy store account

3. Catch up on BYW class homework

4. Practice photography tricks from BYW

5. Work on re-designing my blog

6. Do something fun

7. Spend time outside

Long Weekends are like Kryptonite for To-Do Lists!

Like most weekends, this past one started off with the best intentions. I spent Friday’s commute home making a To-Do list in my head of all the projects that I would have time to work on over the next three days.

But then in a blink of an eye, it was Monday night and I hadn’t started even ONE thing on my list. The weekend had flown by in a haze of sleeping in (a hobby I take very seriously), cleaning, doing errands and hanging out with friends.

And so once again, I had to admit defeat. The holiday weekend and all of its magical free time had proved too much for me. Just like Superman becomes powerless against his enemies when kryptonite is around, the long weekend had rendered me powerless against my mortal enemy – procrastination!

But Superman never gave up on his quest to rid the world of bad guys and I’m not giving up on my quest to thwart my bad habit – I will persevere!