yearning

Today is Tuesday. I was up at 6am, have loaded and started the dishwasher, gathered my bag of study stuff, and am now perched on the couch with coffee and homework. This week is my second to last week of school. Pretty terrifying. I’ll be ridiculously busy with final projects and exams this week and next, but I cannot wait for it to be done.

In the midst of all my studying and group meetings and crunching stats homework, all I can think about is shopping. It’s dreadful and vain and ridiculous, but true. I desperately want a new bag for school. It’s harder than you might think to be a trendy broke design student. I also want a few new items for the wardrobe. If only the government understood my additional student loan requirements….

Until I hit the lotto, I will just swoon over wish-lists and try to decide if I should go sporty or classy with a new backpack…. Decisions, decisions.

thursday is the new friday

what a week. it’s been long and painful and filled with so much homework that i’ve been getting up at 5 or 6 am everyday and not going to bed until midnight. it’s nuts. more nuts than my previous semester. more nuts than i thought i could handle. classes are half over now, so that’s a relief. my only worry is my statistics class…let’s just say the probability of me even being able to pull of a b will be difficult.

this weekend marks independence day. sadly, i will not be able to occupy the usual street-side parade spot with my family in cedarville, but i do hope to explore chicago. i’m hoping matthew will want to go to navy pier or maybe even do some shopping on michigan ave. i’ll still have a boatload of homework to do, but i need to get some chicago bucket list items taken care of! also need a tan and to start working out…

no new revelations. i’m just staring at the clock willing statistics to be over. still and hour and a half to go. pain. utter pain. and there’s a midterm this coming tuesday. woo.

oh june, where have you gone

i’m sitting in bed trying to write a paper. i have no will left in me to be thoughtful and smart right now.

had a lovely weekend home but feel sort of emptyish or something. i don’t know. feel like i’m just staring at my life as it passes me by. hate this feeling of loneliness and doubt.

Another year older

I have a headache and it’s a dreary day. Wish Monday were a little happier. I got a bad grade on a paper and just had to present two projects to the same stodgy professor. I don’t want to go home. I don’t want to be here. Don’t want to do more homework. Don’t want to think. Blah.

 

 

Happy Hump

I have not left the house yet today, but have had a great day so far. Did a bit of cleaning, put things away, got a bedskirt, hung curtains in the living room, got some new euro pillow shams, and had a sweet potato for lunch.

I’m thinking I should do some exercise and see what else is on my list before calling it a day. Besides, it is only 5pm – need to be a little more productive.

Tomorrow is the big trek to Milwaukee to car pool to the great north with Sara and Cody. Pretty excited. Seems like a lot of people will be going home. Will be great to see the pretty faces that I miss so much (talking about you Miss Lisa Jane!)

Ok, putting away the computer and getting the running shoes on. A good post-rain-storm jog sounds like a fresh idea.

Tags: post-rain-storm jog, sweet potato

Home

Mid May. What a glorious time. The weather is finally warming up and I feel like I’m finally figuring things out.

Where to begin? School was fantastically challenging and I have another 3 classes coming up soon. Seems incredibly weird that just 6 months ago I was sitting at a desk in an office hating my life. And now it seems so new and different and full of promise.

Matthew and I moved in together. That is still a new feeling thing. I think it’ll be fantastic, but alas, he’s gone again for his last 2 weeks of training in Dallas. I don’t know quite what to do with myself with absolutely nothing to do with my days, but this free time will soon pass.

Goal tomorrow is to cross fingers that the closet repair man comes in the morning so I can shove all the random things from the hallway into their proper home. After that I have to plant the basil and mint that I picked up today. And then after that, I think I may run or do p90x. Really really want to get in shape and feel good and strong and whole. Have gotten too far away from healthy. Scary.

Anyways, here are some pics. They are also on fbook, but I will point out some of the fabulous specifics and include some links. Since I am a real-life designer, I got a discount on some of the items and always love helping others shop/decorate. Enoy!

This is the view you get right when you come in. Living/dining.

We are currently thinking we may go without window treatments in this room. We’re on the third floor so privacy isn’t really an issue and the darn size of the windows would require 108″ panels. Not really excited about what those would cost. Anyways, some details:
TV table from Ikea
Rug from West Elm
Baby orchid plant (Matthew’s special request) from Home Depot in a glass dish of rocks from Jo-Ann Fabrics
Green and yellow tapestry (awaiting frame job) from Erin and her travels in Africa

Dining area.

Table and chairs from West Elm
Mirror clock from Walmart, ha
“Night Sky Over Lake Michigan” by Nancy Jean, found on Etsy
Silver floor lamp from Meijer, ha
Aloe plant (another Matthew special request) from Home Depot

Living room.

We want bigger art here, but are trying to work with what we have…

Blue furniture from Pier 1 from a while ago
Sheep Skin from Ikea
Green tray from West Elm
Pillow covers from West Elm
Pastel drawing of my lovely mother as a twenty-something hippie – by her friend Margaret Smith, frame from World Market
Shelfy things from World Market
Postcards from Matthew and I’s travels, Ball jars filled with Lake Superior rocks and/or driftwood, pinecones, fishing net glass floaters, a handmade tile frame, and a statue of a couple making out all adorn the shelves

Matthew in the kitchen with a PBR

The kitchen has so many cupboards that we don’t really have anything to boast of here. Still working on what art to put over the sink. Temporarily showing a Portugal travel poster taken from a calendar Matt got for Christmas last year. We pretty much just have a fruit bowl (from Liisa and Neil and their honeymoon to Costa Rica) and a utensil jar (from HomeGoods) on the counters. Oh, and a coffee machine of course.

Note the model aeroplane atop the fridge...

That little guy is the 70 or so passenger jet that The Pilot will be flying in 2 weeks.

Bathroom. Hard to photograph.

Here we pretty much see the rug, from HomeGoods, the toilet, and a shower curtain liner (84″ long guy from BedBath&Beyond). I had ordered a curtain from them too, but it looks sort of dreadful. Looking for a replacement. Anyways, pulling back the curtain reveals a little more fun.

Behind the curtain...

We have a nice little ledge that allows for convenient product storage, as well as room for a plant (from the Botanical Gardens in Ann Arbor), and a rubber ducky with a blue bill and sunglasses. Oh, and a “soap dish” from Anthro. The tub is a whirlpool and makes me swoon. Great room.

The bedroom.

Ok, so this is our large bedroom. The closet is off to the right behind some double doors that don’t swing over the rug…but that’s another story. Surprisingly, I only consumed half the closet….but I think I have 4 under-bed garment things hidden down there.

Bedding from Antro last year, sheets from Target, black pillows handmade by me!
Lamps from West Elm
Bedside table trays from CB2
Rug from West Elm
Vintage magazine covers from the Antique Wooden Boat Show craft fair in Hessel, MI – frames from Meijer
And you can’t see it well, but Matthew has a water carafe on his side of the bed, also from West Elm

Pride and joy.

So this is the foot of our bed.
We have a round mirror from Ikea, a framed World Market poster, Matt’s helicopter toy (?), a Griffin portable speaker iPod dock system, a perfume tray (thrift store find), and of course: Our Credenza.

It is a Kent Coffey piece from the 1960s. It is from the “Tableau” line and is absolutely gorgeous. We found it on craigslist here in Chicago and bought it right away. It is officially my first piece of designer furniture and I feel pretty amazing being able to own something so precious. One of my professors said “I make it a point to buy designer furniture. Then, just by inviting people into your home, you spread the value, the joy, the impact of what good design can do.” Cheesy and pretentious, but I see what he means. I’m not out dropping thousands on Eames Lounges…but maybe someday.

It's just so pretty. Look at that wood.

Hall to back door.

Excusing the mess, this is what you’ll see on the way to the back door. It is a little collection of things Matthew and I have done/seen together (for the most part). Aside from the obvious San Fran neighborhood poster (orkposters.com), there is a photo of an old airplane with a wooden prop that I gave him for Christmas last year (taken from a Fly-In we went to in New Mexico), a post card of “The Bat Flight” from Carlsbad Caverns, a framed painting of Paris (from my Europe Club trip back in ’02), and a series of National Parks Postcards.

Out the back door.

So this is the end of the tour. The shot was taken on a horribly cold and blistery day, but you get the point. I hope to make it slightly nicer looking with the 2 tomato plants, jalepeno plant, and herbs I bought today. I wrapped some white Christmas lights around the railing and have folded up the awful camping chair to shove in the closet until we actually need 3 seats out there.
The little dinette set is from Ace Hardware.

I do hope to continue posting the exciting new life of Matthew and Caroline here. Will keep you posted!

Tags: Ace Hardware, Anthropologie, Home Depot, Ikea, p90x, PBR, Pier 1, West Elm, World Market

Last week of the semester

Whew. Have the last few months really come and gone already?

Today I get the keys to the new apartment. I really shouldn’t move until Friday seeing how I have final projects due every day this week, but I’m pretty excited. Not excited to climb 3 flights of stairs with all sorts of arm loads of stuff, but oh well. Will be happily camping out with my air mattress and boxes of other stuff until later this month when I fetch my real furniture.

As I mentioned, it’s finals week. I have a minor thing due Monday, MAJOR projects due Tuesday and Wednesday and Friday and a few papers due Thursday. I should really really be working on the Tuesday stuff, but that’s the darn tablet design project which I must say, I’m not excited about in the least. Blah.

Trying to stay motivated and caffeinated. Should get back to work. Here’s a preview of the apartment though, we’ll call these the stark empty befores: