I love these gallery walls.

I've been dreaming of what to do with our living room walls. And our dining room walls. And the blank wall right across from the kitchen. And the bedroom. Needless to say, we have a lot of blank walls that need some help!

I love the idea of a gallery wall. I grew up in a house without blank walls. I learned that blank walls are boring. But with fewer resources and still trying to figure out what our style is, I think I've been a little afraid to do anything with our walls. But now, finally, that we've had some recent photos taken, and I've been working on some art pieces, I think I'll have something great to put up on the walls!

Now I just need to DO IT.

Photo from The Nesting Place

Photo found on Apartment Therapy

Photo found here.

Photo by Young House Love

Happy Tuesday!

Window Seat Envy

Since I was a kid, I've ALWAYS wanted a window seat. From the time that I was old enough to know what a window seat was, I've been in love with them. However, I still do not have a window seat. Every time that I went house browsing with my parents, I'd always swoon over the window seats in the model homes. Because, clearly, model homes are the bomb.

And since joining Pinterest and finding this beauty (in fact, I made a whole board of JUST window seats), I can't help but still want one. It's the perfect spot to hide away to read or write or simply contemplate the world. It's perfect for those rainy days when all you want to do is curl up with a book and read. 

 

Photo found here.

One day. One day I will have a window seat in my home. I will sit there and read and write and contemplate the world. It will happen.

Gallery Walls

I absolutely love the idea of gallery walls. In fact, I'm in the process of getting a wall (or maybe more!) of these together. I love how it is clustered together with a variety of photography and art. We recently had anniversary photos taken and can finally hang some non-wedding photos. I'm not sure what art we'll intersperse....but it is sure to make our blank living room walls look like someone DOES live in this house! I will share once it's done.

 

Photo found here from here.

On blogging

I was thinking about it today and I've been a blogger for almost eight years, although, not a very consistent one. I've been looking at all the blogs I've started and then quit and I must have at least six. All of them have been hosted on Blogger, so it's not like I've lost out on hosting, but still. I realize, that's kind of sad.

I think I've figured out how to make myself a more successful blogger. For me, success at blogging is consistency, creating a community of friends, and gaining fulfillment through writing. It doesn't mean that I need to leverage having a million views or thousands of comments. Instead, I just want to build community with other bloggers, to learn and encourage each other.

In order for me to do this, I need to create a writing a calendar. I think that with this blog, I'll write at least twice a week to begin. I think I'll be spending most of this week figuring out what I want the focus of this blog to be. It'll definitely be about adventures in cooking, maybe some things I've learned since getting married, and eventually home projects. There's this headboard that I've been DYING to make. Have you ever been to Ana White's website? AMAZING.

I've been inspired by other food and home bloggers out there. I absolutely LOVE reading Young House Love. They are so real and write in a style that's fun. If I lived in Richmond, Virginia, I'm pretty sure I'd want to be their friends. Actually, I think I'd want them to want me to be their friend. (In the non-creepy, stalker sort of way!) For some reason I've been having a lot of baby thoughts on the brain (but trust me the hubs and I are totally not ready yet!) and I was reading about the Petersik's adventures in cloth diapering. They made it look so easy! And after looking at the cost of diapers over the lifetime of a child.... I think I'm sold. And we're not even trying to have a kid yet! Although, I'm thinking that this blog could also chronicle that...when we get there.

There are several food blogs that I totally drool over, and there are probably too many to list. Seriously, my Google Reader is bursting! So I'm going to take this one step at a time. Baby steps, so to speak...no pun intended.

Menu Plan for January 4-8, 2010

Being sick sucks. I have no will to do anything. But alas, as a grown up, besides my husband, there's no one else who can pick up my slack. I still have to make dinner. I still have to keep up the house. I still have work to do. It doesn't end.

In an effort to help myself keep on track and think less about what to eat, I'm forging a movement through 2010 of planning our meals for the week. I'm comfortable with routine breakfasts and lunches, it's just dinner that I'd like to mix up.

Monday - Shake & Bake Chicken and French Style Green Beans
Tuesday - Turkey Tacos
Wednesday - Spaghetti with Whole Wheat Pasta
Thursday - Porkchops and broccoli
Friday - Most likely leftovers

We'll see how this goes!

Menu Planning Through 2010

Well, I guess 2009 came and went. And now it's 2010.

I know that bloggers shouldn't apologize for their absence or neglect, but life just got crazy at the end of 2009.

We put in an offer on a house, closed, and moved. We went to Georgia for Thanksgiving and California for Christmas. We assembled Ikea furniture and bought a Christmas tree. And we still need to process change of address cards. And I need to change my name.

It's hard to write a blog when you're not sure what you're writing about. Writing without purpose...it's like singing without a song or a melody, it just doesn't work. Since October, I've had some time to reflect on where this blog should be going. It's on my 101 in 1001 list to start and write a blog about newlywed cooking adventures and such. With the new year here, and with it a desire to shed some pounds (or A LOT), I've determined to use this blog in part to chronicle that journey, as well as share menu plans and workouts.

Whether I like to admit it or not, I'm a planner. I like to make a plan, stick to it, and carry it out. With my Type-A tendencies I get really upset when the plan changes without prior notice. I'd like to think that I'm a flexible person, with a go-with-the-flow mentality, but if I'm being really honest, I'm a total control freak.

So when it comes to food, I need a plan. I need to know what I'm going to cook and when and what to buy. Since I'm very new to the kitchen, I'm not at the point where I can step into the kitchen and whip something up with the contents of our pantry. Yet. I hope to be there someday.

Tomorrow, I'll post my first menu plan for the first full week of 2010. Veggies are invited to the party.

Complacent with Clutter

I've never been one for order. I mean, I like having orderly, but I don't live a very orderly life. I'm complacent with clutter. I learn to get over it. But with us moving into our very first house in a matter of weeks, I want to turn over a new leaf.

I think I've eased my way into a good mojo with working out using the Couch to 5k Program. I've been really good about getting my butt to the gym at least three times a week to get my workout in. Now I just need to adjust my life so that things are less cluttered, more organized, and less stress inducing.

And I admit that it's been a team effort in becoming complacent with clutter. My husband has about the same tolerance level as I do. Unfortunately, we're both "pilers, not filers" and fall victim to just stacking things up and deciding to come to them later. And when we get into the new house, I don't want it to be this way.

I started reading David Allen's Getting Things Done and I think it's a very doable system. But it has to be done. It has to become a habit. One of the things that he says is a must when implementing a good life/work management system is a home base. A place where you always go to take care of business. Right now, in the apartment I don't have this. I do work all over the place. In fact, that's why I sometimes have to make myself go to Starbucks in order to focus and get work done. It's kind of silly, but true.

A couch is not a home office.

We should be moving in soon. Like in 2 weeks. My plan is to take two days once we're settled and start the GTD system. Because I can't be complacent with clutter anymore.