School Storage Cart

I’m baaaaack! I have been working hard to figure out a good life/work/school/blog balance and I am getting there. I still haven’t had time to edit all of our wine country photos so that post is on the back burner for now.

Instead, I am so excited to tell you that I figured out a storage solution for all of my (many) school supplies. I had no idea that I was going to be receiving so many supplies as a part of my program. Since I didn’t want to be taking trips out to the garage for all of my everyday stuff, I needed to figure out a way/place to keep the supplies in the apartment. Easier said than done!

I pondered the predicament for a couple weeks, bummed that the only option seemed to be cramming another bookshelf into the apartment (and trust me- there is no convenient place for another one!). I was (trying) to catch up on reading blogs on Friday when I came across Cathy’s post at Adore Your Place that featured Ikea’s Raskog Kitchen Cart. I have been in love with this adorable turquoise cart since the day they came out with it but never had a need for it. But once I saw the cart, I knew it was the perfect solution for my storage problem. I decided to move the empty guitar case next to the fridge to the garage and place the cart ($49.99) in it’s place. Not only is it small and tucked away, but it is portable and I can roll it out if I am working on a project!

Before:Kitchen Progress 1

Now: (yay!)

SchoolCart2 SchoolCart1

As you recall, storage for my school stuff was one of my apartment resolutions for the new year! We can scratch one off the list!

1. KITCHEN LOVE – Since we didn’t quite get to this in 2012, I would love to get our kitchen project underway early this year!

 

2. ORGANIZE, ORGANIZE, ORGANIZE! – We need to do this every year! We got a bunch of Christmas gifts (books, DVDs, etc.) and have no where to put them so we need to do some spring cleaning to make room.

 

3. STORAGE SOLUTIONS – Now that Walker and I have lived together for over a year, we have slowly filled up all of our current storage. Aside from putting everything in the garage, we need to come up with some new ways to add storage (especially for books, DVDs, CDs, and school supplies!).

 

4. NEW COFFEE TABLE AND RUG – Our current coffee table is hanging on by a thread! We absolutely need to save up and replace it. We would also love to get a new, upgraded rug for underneath… class up our living room a little! :)

 

5. SCHOOL WORKSPACE – I love our writing desks but I am going to be doing a lot of drafting and projects that take up much more space/storage for school. We need to figure out a way to make a little more space for doing schoolwork, which is going to be really tough!

As for the extra books, DVDs, and CDs, we decided that we will have to weed out some of the old stuff and put it into the garage to make room for the new stuff. We simply don’t have enough room for everything. However, the garage is just out back so none of our stuff will be too far away! I am just happy that I figured out an easy, cute (and portable) way to store my school supplies close by. :)

 

Flowers… by Walker: January 18, 2013

Hey strangers! I know I have been quiet this week. It is the first full week of school and I haven’t quite found the right balance to include blogging yet.  Hopefully next week!

I have had a draft of a post about our wine country weekend since Monday but I have yet to edit any of the billions of photos. So I will leave you with a pretty little Friday afternoon treat instead! These gorgeous flowers arrived at work on my birthday from a special someone (hint: it wasn’t Bo). There are over 200 Peruvian Lily blooms in all different colors. It is hard to tell from these photos but this bouquet is seriously bigger than my head by about three times (or roughly equal to the size of a three-headed version of me). I can barely lift it to change the water! They are so unbelievably stunning and they are still fully in bloom a week later. I LOVE THEM!BirthdayFlowers5

 

That Time I Ruined My Birthday Surprise

But I didn’t mean to! Let me explain…

After I got back from orientation, I had a list of the specific supplies I would need for school.  A little panicked that I would have to scrape some money together for a (portable for space reasons of course) drafting table, I got a bit nervous.  I had the genius idea to check Craigslist for the off-chance that someone was selling a portable drafting table and to my great surprise, there was!CraigslistAd

You can’t tell from my screenshot but the table was quite beat up but for $30, who can be picky?! I figured I could scrape by with a shoddy board and emailed the guy. When Walker got home I told him about my find.  He said that it was great and to keep him posted.  An hour later the guy emailed me back that he was around all night and that I could come pick it up. I was about to hit send on an email back saying I’d be over shortly when Walker sighs and says, “Wait. Don’t go. I got you a drafting table for your birthday…”

I was really, really pumped for a second… and then immediately felt guilty for ruining the surprise! I had no idea though and was just getting so excited about school! You can’t blame a girl for being a super nerd, can you? I must have caught this problem from my dad because he ALWAYS unintentionally ruins his gift surprises (my mom can vouch for that!).

Turns out it was kind of a good thing that he got to see my excited reaction when I ruined the surprise because when the table was delivered the next day, there was a giant picture of it on the outside of the box. Who does that!? I brought the box inside on my lunch break and I would have found out then anyway. Way to go, Amazon.

Anyway, he apparently still loves me despite my surprise-spoiling because that amazing man is taking me to wine country for the weekend! We leave in a few hours and I can’t wait! Hitching Post steaks and Pinot, here we come!! :)

(and then I get to come home and play with my awesome new drafting table!)