Wrapping.

Today I got restless while home sick in bed, and decided to wrap some presents.

Soon I noticed someone looking at me from the other side of the bed.

He was soon pouncing on ribbons, and chewing on boxes.

Eventually he got sleepy and sat down in the box I was just about to use.

Lucky for him he was too cute to move. 

So while he sat there for an hour I napped.

When I woke up from my nap Nelson was out of the box. 

So I moved quickly to create him the best early Christmas present ever!

Using 4 boxes, lots of tape, and some old wrapping paper I created a cat fort.

He actually seemed to like it, but we will see how long that lasts.

He has already tried to eat it.

Sick.

Ended up leaving work yesterday feeling less than healthy. Woke up this morning feeling like death, and ended up taking the whole day off. As a child taking a skip day meant no school, and probably an episode of Jerry Springer or two if my mom ran to the grocery store. Now being sick means laying in bed waiting to get better so I can get back to work. Oh the joys of being an adult.

Mustard.

I got this amazing blouse in the mail while I was at work today.

Where is it from? Modcloth of course!

I can't wait to wear it to work tomorrow! I am thinking black skinny jeans, a black tank, and a black cardigan with this blouse being my perfect pop color.

Oh, Santa Claus is from Idaho. How do I know? 

He was driving behind me the other day and his plates said Idaho! 

Busted dude.

Middlesex

After years of picking this book up and forgetting about it I finally finished it.

It is a must read for everyone. I can't believe that it took me this long! 

I love that the majority of this book took place in Detroit.

Having been there once really helped me visualize the setting.

My trip to Detroit took place a few years ago. My Mom, Dad, and I went there to visit my brother.

This is a photo of Detroit's old train station. I can't even imagine how beautiful this building would have looked back when it was operating. When we were standing out front of this building taking photos a homeless man jumped out of the bush next to me, and chased me all the way back to my brothers car (This happened while I was still recovering from the flu). Luckily my family was already in the car and we all made a quick getaway.

In the middle of miles and miles of empty, and broken down houses there is street of art! All of the house were painted crazy like the one above, and the yards had different things going on in them. The picture above looked to be a vacuum graveyard. The street was a little spooky, but also a nice breath of fresh air.

Nelson T. Cat

Today Dan was extremely tired and he decided to take a nap. 

Nelson took this as an opportunity to find a comfortable spot to sleep.

I can just tell that Nelson is thinking that he is in charge of our apartment.

Also, props to Dan for being such a pretty sleeper. I hope I look that good when I sleep!

Favorite thing #1

Oprah has her favorite things, and I have mine!

 This week my favorite thing is:

My Kindle!!!

For a good length of time I always claimed that I loved the feel of reading a real book. Then I took a look at a list of the books I wanted to read, and figured financially it would be way cheaper to get a kindle. (Only $79 and books are cheaper!) So I gave in and bought one. About five minutes in to reading my first book on it I fell in love, and I fell hard! I highly recommend. It is so easy that I have been reading more often which is the best plus ever!

Melted away!

I finally attempted a craft that I have been dying to do for a long time. 

What you need is a canvas or foam poster board, crayons, and a hair dryer.

Peel all of the crayons. Your fingers might hurt, but trust me it is worth it.

Next glue the crayons to the foam board.(It is even prettier if you make a rainbow!)

Finally you just blow dry it until it begins to melt! 

This project was so much fun, and it only cost $5.00.

Welcome home Nelson!

A while ago Dan and I decided that we wanted to adopt a cat, and long story short we finally met Nelson. 

Here is a quite Nelson bio:

In west Philadelphia he was born and raised on a playground he spent most of his days.....just kidding! Nelson was a feral cat who was adopted by a family who rescued cats. All of the cats stressed Nelson out so eventually they decided it was in his best interest to find a new home. Luckily that home is with us!

Nelson is great. He already thinks that he is the King of the house, and he is already spoiled. He has way too many toys. Right now we have him on a mostly raw diet. I need to do a little more research on it, but he is loving it so far! 

As someone who has never owned a "lap cat" it caught me extremely off guard when I was sitting in bed reading and Nelson decided the place he wanted to lay was on my chest! (Excuse the awful blurry photo please.) Welcome home Nelson, we love you so much already!

First

This week I have had a few different firsts.

The first snow of the season.

My first time cooking an egg in a hole. 

So delicious, and so worth it.

My first time making Pho! 

Yum.

and last but definitely not least my first two year anniversary with this fellow.

HUSKY FOOTBALL!

Just got home from yet another Husky football game. 

Nothing is better than drinking a few beers and hanging out with your boyfriend and your pops!

There was a nasty Oregon fan at our tailgate. 

It surprises me how nasty girls can be to one another. 

That should be changed.

I love my pops,

I love my Daniel,

and I love Husky Football!

I will miss this stadium next year.

The Hunger Games

I recently purchased a Kindle (best investment of my life), because I had so many books on my "need to buy" list that financially it just made sense. The first few books were The Hunger Games series. I don't know how I hadn't heard of them before, but I am obsessed. They were the first books that have made me want to never put a book down in a damn long time.

If you haven't read it yet, you seriously need to. Bloody Fantastic. (I've also been watching too many English shows. My vocabulary is changing.) Reading Middlesex now, but I need more recommendations people! 

Also, thanks to Holly I discovered Modcloth.com, and I ordered this dress:

I am in love with it! My wonderful boyfriend told me it reminded him of Bellatrix Lestrange. Not really the look I am going for, but I think she is badass so why not! 

Long time no blog!

I am back! I got a big girl job, and I am finally settled back into life so I can blog once again. These past few months have definitely been quite the ride. Switching from being a student/nanny to working a 9-5 has been easier than I expected, but time seems to fly by way too fast. I cannot believe its almost November. When did that happen?

This weekend I finally got around to hanging things on our bedroom walls. (Thank you target for cheap frames!) The tree print is my absolute favorite. This is what it looks like close up.

I found it HERE!

I love that I am finally finding my decorating groove. I was drowning in shabby chic for far too long. I have fallen in love with sharp corners and shapes. 

I got this piece in Kirkland this summer on sale for $20. I was thrilled! The bookshelf it is sitting on use to be a lovely pink shabby chic piece, but no more pink hooray!

That is all for now!

Overlays

This is something that I have looking for, for a long time. They are overlays. Looked how they transformed a plain IKEA dresser.

I found this transformation HERE.

I plan on getting three of these:

Which can be found HERE.

Enjoy!

Grass Lawn Park!

Madison and I went to grass lawn park on wednesday. I thought this picture was too cute not to share.

RN74

Tuesday Girls With Controllers had a meeting at RN74. Not only did they have a fantastic wine list they had a delicious app selection. We ordered fondue. It came out as little grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato sauce for the dip. Such a good idea I can't wait to make some at home!

Kansas

Dan and I went to Kansas to visit his family last week. It was great to defrost from this awful Seattle summer we are having, and it was great to catch up with his family.

The second night we hung out listening to live jazz music at Dan's dads record store. Then we went to a drag bar! This was my first time at a drag bar and it was absolutely fantastic.

The next night we went Cosmic Bowling! 

Our final day we stopped in this old train station. It was absolutely beautiful. There were also bullet holes in the marbles from a gangster/police shoot out in the early 1900's. Crazy

Inside the train station there were miniature train sets. This is Dan's little niece. She loved all the trains.

Wine and Dine

Today I met up with my Grandma. We had lunch at the Barking Frog in Woodinville. Then we walked over to Chateau St. Michelle Winery, and had a great time walking around.

Wineries are so gorgeous. I wish I could just grab a book and a blanket for the day.

Super cute baby ducks. They were jumped down from pond to pond.

Stumbled upon a creepy old greenhouse. It is sad that it is empty. I feel like especially in Seattle someone could put it to great use!

Summer in the City

Summer in the city means something special in Seattle. When our two month long summer rolls around we take advantage of it. This past saturday Dan and I headed to the wonderful sandy Seattle beach, Golden Gardens! Of course it was slammed with blindingly white people trying to get their tan on.

Dan was stoked on life when we found TMNT popsicles with gumball eyes!

Malt and Vine

I hit up a great little place to grab a beer the other day in Redmond. It is called Malt and Vine. When you go into the store it looks like a 7-11 but just filled with unique beers and wines. They have a few tables of indoor seating and a great outdoor patio. So simple, so great. I love beer.

The 101

Last weekend Dan and I were able to escape and go on a quick little road trip. There are limited pictures which usually indicates that we were too busy having fun to stop and take pictures. 

This photo is from our stop in Jacksonville, OR. This is the house that my grandma grew up in. Jacksonville is the best little town just outside of Medford.

This is a stop at the prehistoric gardens. Unfortunately it was closed, but they at least had this dinosaur outside to give us a good tease. 

While driving up the 101 we stopped and rode on the dunes, went to see the smelly sea lion caves, stayed in sketchy hotels, and tons of other random activities. A great weekend summer getaway! 

Zoo, Zoo, skip to the Zoo!

I have been nannying a little girl named Madison for over a year now. Since I just graduated I will be stopping being her nanny in September. Knowing that I have such a limited time left, Madison and I have been taking full advantage of our time together this summer. Last week we went to the Woodland Park Zoo. While walking around we saw that they had a giraffe feeding. For both of us to feed them only cost $d! We weren't rushed at all, I highly recommend you take advantage of this if you are ever in the area.

I was trying to get a picture of the Giraffe and when I looked up he had leaned forward trying to get the leaves I had in my hand. Perfect photo op!

Madison would have gotten closer if they would have let her!

Fishing for fish.

Last Wednesday I went fishing! It was absolutely fantastic, and exhausting. We went out on a river in Monroe for 10 hours.

This is a photo of my brother and me. Obviously it was early in the day. You can tell by how chipper I still am.

This was my restroom for the day.

Overall it was an exhaustingly great day of bonding with my Dad and Brother. I think I can only handle this kind of fishing trip once a year.

P.S. We caught three big ole fish.