Category Archives: Life & Love

Valentine’s Day Recap

I  hope you all had a lovely and love-filled Valnetine’s Day yesterday! :)

After pulling an all-nighter for school, I was afraid that I would sleep through the holiday. Luckily, I did not and thank goodness because it was such a nice night.  When I got home from school, I found a ProFlowers box waiting for me on the doorstep! I opened it to find two dozen peach, orange, pink, and cream roses from my Valentine. They are so stunning! They haven’t opened up yet so I will post pictures of them in a few days once they are at their fullest. When Walker arrived home from work, we exchanged gifts (okay, that’s a lie… I gave him his gift on Wednesday after work but that would have made telling this story more difficult so let’s pretend it was last night). He got me a gorgeous satin robe and nightgown (in pink of course!). I have been wanting a new robe and to class up my PJ style for a while now so this was so perfect!SatinRobe1SatinRobe2

I have mentioned it before but Walker loves our succulents that we have in the back yard. I have sometimes heard him refer to them as his “pets” and “friends.” Maybe we need to get out more… ;)  So for his V-Day gift, I handmade a heart-shaped concrete planter (and so can you! I will do another post shortly with the information) and planted two succulents inside. In addition, I went to Ikea and bought a new shelf for all of the plants in the backyard. I know that the $7 DIY Plant Stand was a good idea at the time but a year later, it wasn’t looking so hot. Particle board furniture was not made to live outside. Shield your eyes if you don’t want to see an ugly, dilapidated DIY project before it went to its grave.OldPlantStand

I assembled the shelves, arranged all of our plants, and even added a new storage bin and lantern to spruce things up. I also plan to get him a few new pots for some of the succulents that have gotten huge but we will pick those out together later. I surprised him by having the whole thing set up and waiting for him when he got home from work!NewPlantShelf HeartPlanter1 HeartPlanter2

Our original plan for the night was to cook a meal together but we were too tired so went out to our favorite little sushi place for a delicious sushi feast! When we got home, we cracked open a bottle of wine from our favorite vineyard and relaxed. I lounged in my new satin sleepwear, feeling like a queen! It was the perfect night after a long couple of days doing school work and so nice to spend some QT with my valentines (man & dog)! :)

Wine Country Weekend Getaway

I want to start by thanking everyone who voted for Our Cozy Cubbyhole in the Apartment Therapy Homies! It really meant a lot to us and we are hoping that a few of the new readers stick around! You are the BEST! :)

I  know this post is long overdue but I don’t think it is ever too late to share pictures of GORGEOUS wine country! For our two year anniversary, Walker surprised me with a weekend getaway in wine country that was booked for my birthday weekend in January! We intended to use the trip to celebrate our anniversary, his birthday, and my birthday all in one weekend (since they are all within 10 days of each other!).

We headed out of LA as soon as we got off of work on Friday night, arriving in Solvang around 9:10. Squeaking in under their 9:15 last-seating policy (phew!), we had an amazing steak dinner at The Hitching Post that completely blew us away! I think it was honestly the best Filet Mignon I have ever had… it was melt-in-your-mouth tender. On top of that, the french fries and pinot noir were knockouts on their own! They even gave me a little birthday ice cream to finish off the meal. We walked out of there in some sort of incredible meat-haze with a bottle of wine to-go.  We checked into the hotel and spent hours talking and drinking wine in our room until the wee hours of the morning. It was literally a perfect birthday evening. :)WineCountry1 WineCountry2

On Saturday we prepared ourselves for a day of wine tasting with a delightful (-ly filling) lunch. Then we figured it was noon so we were allowed to start drinking! ;) We went to five tasting rooms in town over the next several hours, where we chatted with locals and got spoiled by all of the great pourers. After all of the tastings, we decided it was time to take the edge off of the wine buzz with some chow! Once we had some dinner in our bellies, we finished off the night back at one of the tasting rooms from earlier in the day (The Good Life) with a glass of wine and live music!

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We woke up Sunday morning and needed an amazing/giant Danish breakfast to kick any remaining effects of the day before. ;) So we stuffed our faces with aebleskivers, an omelet with Danish sausage and Havarti cheese for me, an omelet with Nordic lobster and Havarti cheese for Walker, and my signature three-beverage hangover cure (water, OJ, and coffee). We wandered around the town for a while enjoying the fresh, cool air (there was ice on all of the fountains! So rare for California!) and the peace & quiet. We headed home and arrived mid-afternoon so that we had time to unwind (i.e. watch a billion hours of The Sopranos) before getting back to the real world.

It was such an amazing weekend and such a perfect weekend getaway. We love it so much up in wine country that one of these times we may not come back! Just warning you now. ;)

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2013 Resolutions

I know I am a little late on this post, but I wasn’t ready for New Year’s Resolutions until after all of the holidays (including Walker’s birthday!). So my official start to 2013’s resolutions is this week! ;)

Last year, I had several resolutions for the apartment so let’s see how we did!

1. ORGANIZE, ORGANIZE, ORGANIZE! – Ok, so I do this every year but it is so important! When Walker moved in we found a place to put everything and have ignored it since. But in the next few weeks we will be getting a detached garage space (YIPPEE FINALLY!) and can stash some of our stuff in the extra storage. Sounds like a good excuse to do some weeding out of the excess and give us some breathing room. – ACCOMPLISHED!

2. CREATE A NEW DUAL WORKSPACE – Currently both of our computers are sitting on a desk I originally bought for myself that I Frankenstein-ed to accommodate both of us. However, there is no room to move or work… just barely enough room to click. So we have started some beginning plans on creating a new dual workspace that will actually meet our needs. – ACCOMPLISHED!

3. UPGRADE THE TUNES – We have been talking about getting a record player for the living room because we both LOVE listening to music. Walker even has a mini record collection started so we have some great stuff to listen to when we actually take the plunge. We anticipate a little extra space once we get the garage space and new desk so we hope to make it work sooner rather than later. – ACCOMPLISHED!

4. KITCHEN LOVE – The living room and bedroom have been slowly transformed to merge our styles since Walker moved in. However, with the exception of an additional calendar and some art, the kitchen looks exactly the same. I think he and I need to put our heads together and see what we want to do with this room. – DIDN’T QUITE GET THERE!

5. BATHROOM SOS – Other than towels, curtains, and a bathmat, I have yet to do anything with the bathroom. This is the year to start! – ACCOMPLISHED!

In 2012 we managed to clean all the closets and organize the garage space, get his & hers writing desks to replace our old workspace, got a record player and  record storage for our growing record collection, and completely re-did the bathroom! The one resolution we didn’t quite get to was a kitchen revamp. However, we have at least put together a plan so I guess we are at least on our way! So this brings us to this year’s resolutions…. here we go!

 

2013 New Year’s Apartment Resolutions

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!

We are keeping it simple this year! Our apartment is feeling a bit small lately (after all of the Christmas goodies) so we are focusing mainly on cleaning things out and finding more storage. I think we can do it! :)

On a personal level, I am trying to give myself a small list of manageable resolutions for the new year. I mentioned a few things last year that didn’t really pan out too well so here’s to a fresh start!

2013 New Year’s Personal Resolutions

1. BE MORE ACTIVE – I am not going to sit here and tell you I am going to hit the gym every day or even at all. My resolution is simply to incorporate some “active” activities into my lifestyle. I want to walk the dog more often.  I want to ride my bike to work some days. I want to go on the occasional hike. I want to even try and fit in a workout here and there. You get my drift! I just need to be more active and therefore happier & healthier! P.S. I have joined My Fitness Pal… my username is OurCozyCubbyhole if you want to be friends!

2. STAY HYDRATED! – I need to drink more water, no questions about it. In addition, Walker and I have decided to start buying gallons of bottled water instead of drinking tap water after hearing/reading some pretty horrific things about our water supply (I’m talking some serious Erin Brockovich crap!). I know it is a little less sustainable but drinking the tap water just doesn’t seem like an option.

3. PICK UP MY GUITAR MORE OFTEN – Just for fun when I have the time!

4. TRY NOT TO OVERLOAD MY PLATE – I have a lot on my plate with school, work, the blog, Etsy, etc. So I want to make sure I am keeping enough free time and quality time for Walker & me in my new schedule. I am going to try and keep the miscellaneous projects down to a minimum!

5. BE FINANCIALLY SMART – Since I am only working three days a week and am paying for school at the same time, my monthly income will be taking a huge cut this year.  I want to make sure I am being financially smart so I can still try and save a few pennies here and there!

There you have it: my apartment and personal goals for the year! Let’s hope it goes well! Happy New Year everyone!