it might have to come to this...

OCD on steroids

I rarely watch television, but when I do I can almost guarantee that you will find me tuned into HGTV or The Food Network. The Food Network inspires a lot of the different recipes I try (along with Rachel Ray's cookbook) and HGTV makes me a) want to buy a house b) rearrange and decorate all.the.time. And that is where I got this idea...

This weekend I decided I wanted to tackle my office and give it a little life. As it stands right now, I'm not done purchasing things for my apartment so I can't justify buying things for my office just yet. That doesn't mean I can't spruce it up a bit. Today was the day to make that happen and although not a lot changed, it still feels a little more like an "amber space" rather than just my work space. I spend A LOT of time in there so it may as well be comfortable for me :)

I had envisioned doing something entirely different to the space, but the furniture I have to work with didn't really allow me to play around much. Here are some before and after shots...
I didn't have time to really 'clean up' before taking the before shots, but for those of you wondering what all the lamps on the window sill are for we had to confiscate them over break because they aren't allowed in the building so naturally I get stuck housing them.

Not only did I get to rearrange a bit, but I got to clean too! As you can see, I pulled one of the storage shelves out from behind my desk and put it...

Here. I think it makes it a little more inviting. I got rid of a love seat that I had in there and replaced it with a chair. Because I have the table and four chairs (as seen in the other picture) it was just too cluttered so I downsized.

I wanted to move my desk- that was what I set out to do. But when we got it situated it just didn't look right so this is what we ended up with. I'm sure it'll stay this way for a while...or at least until I get the itch to change it again.

But wait there's more! After messing with my office all day I decided it was a good time to get my closet in order too! So, after lining up my boots and color coding my shirts, the end product was something that may classify me as a bit obsessive...



Good thing this apartment comes with two closets and I was able to store my summer clothes/dresses/shoes in the other one :-p

Sigh. I am a self proclaimed neat freak. Take it or leave it..."it's just the way the good Lord made me" as my dad would say. I'm proud of my OCD moments and this world wouldn't survive without people like me :)

So go clean off that coffee table...you know you want to. And while you're at it organize that junk drawer. You'll feel better after doing it...I promise :)

Enrique Iglesias Ft. Ludacris - Tonight Lyrics

'Remember Me'

highly recommend this movie...

Start Christmas shopping. Check.

Phew. I am tired from all of the shopping I have done this weekend! Yesterday I ventured out to START my Christmas shopping. Little did I know by the end of today I would be done! In the past two days I have managed to purchase and wrap gifts for everyone on my list (minus two- still deciding what to get them.) The fact that I had in mind what I was getting basically everyone really helped me bang out the shopping in two days. Don't get me wrong, I love shopping and I am okay with taking the time to make sure I get what I want to get, but for some reason this year it was really simple. The hardest decision I had to make was what color wrapping paper I wanted this year. As you can see below, I went with a red/gold theme....

So there they are, all lined up and ready to go home with me once winter break arrives. Usually I go all out with ribbon and what not, but this year I kept it simple. I knew I would be pretty pressed for time in the next few weeks so it certainly is a relief to have it done. Don't you worry though- while wrapping I watched a Christmas movie AND listened to Christmas music :-p Bring on Christmas.

This will happen at my wedding!

my grown up christmas list

After much thought, I have finally come up with my 'grown up' Christmas list. I don't usually make a list, and honestly I don't expect to get most of the things I list, but for my own sake I wanted to make one because if nothing else I will have a list to go off of when I want to splurge on something nice for myself at a later date! So here it is...the list. dun dun dunnnn

1. Best Buy gift card ( I want a new TV and a new computer)
2. New pots and pans (preferably stainless steel...but anything will work better than what I have now...)
3. New cookie sheets!
4. New knife set (CUTCO, CUTCO!)
5. North Face (black or white please)
6. Viva La Juicy perfume

Honestly, that is all I can think of that I have wanted or want to have in the near future. I need socks and underwear (obvi, who doesn't at Christmas time? or at least it seems everyone does because it's inevitable that they will be in our stockings whether we need them or not :-p) I really don't want a lot. I just like to spend time with my family and friends. Oh and I like snow and sledding and ice skating. So maybe that should be another list...things I want to DO Christmas list...

1. go ice skating outside
2. go sledding
3. build a snowman (with my dad)
4. drink hot cocoa
5. go caroling (even though I can't sing..)
6. watch Christmas movies
7. drive around town to see every one's Christmas lights (most likely I will criticize the houses with colored lights even though it's all in good cheer because I really don't like colored lights...and those blow up things...I will want to pop all of them, but I won't because it's Christmas time) I like the traditional look of nice, white lights and wreaths
8. go to Lights on the Lake!
9. pick out our Christmas tree
10. be.with.my.family.

So there you have it...it's the most wonderful time of the year and for me, it's about the second list of things that makes it the most wonderful time of the year.

tis the season...

Way back when I started this blog I thought it would be funny to call it "the typing makes me look busy" because I was working in the office over the summer and very rarely did I feel 'busy.' However, when you actually have a full time job it's a lot harder to keep on things, like a blog, because at the end of the day all you want to do is sit on the couch for at least 5 minutes to collect your thoughts or at the end of the day, you barely have time to eat dinner before bed. Or at least that's how I have felt lately. I like being busy, don't get me wrong, but lately I have not found enough time to breath. I can already see what my New Year's resolutions are going to consist of...

But why wait until New Year's when I can start now...start giving myself the time back that I deserve at the end of the day. I'm not promising anything when it comes to my blog...sometimes I just don't have any stories to share or if I do they are work related and who really wants to read those? I know I can be funny from time to time...but if that's all my life has come to, work, then I need to do something about it! So starting tonight...which I have done tonight, btw, I'm doing at least one thing for me and only me. For instance, I LOVE Christmas...everything about it. But most of all, I like to decorate. So, last night I purchased a Christmas tree for my apartment and tonight I put the finishing touches on that and also the big 'window' I have between my kitchen and living area. Here are some pictures of the finished project...


I was kind of bummed because I wanted to put the tree in front of the big window I have in my living room, but it wouldn't fit/wasn't stable. So I had to stick it in the corner...which is okay, but not perfect. I'm not sure where all the gifts I buy are going to go, but we'll cross that bridge when it gets here. For now, I am going to sit and admire my work...it took me forever to get the lights around the window!

Do something for you tonight! It sure felt good to do something for me...

If you like it then you shoulda put a ring on it

I've spontaneously traveled to NYC on my own, my sister got married, I survived my first week on duty as a Hall Director, and today I was told what type of personality I have thanks to the fabulous Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. While these things were all exciting and I have many stories I could share about them, I think I'm going to tell you a story that shows just how capable we really are of some things when we put our minds to it.

I will be attending the NEACURH conference this weekend in Oneonta. As exciting as that is, it gets better. At this conference I will have to perform a 20 second segment of Beyonce's "Single Ladies" music video in front of many, many people. Fortunately I am not alone in this, nonetheless it certainly has me biting my nails. For those of you that know me, I love to dance. However, my 'dancing' is not what you would call good, club dancing. Bumping and grinding certainly has never been my style and booty popping is sure to dislocate all sorts of things if I ever attempted it. So what I do is a little different- it's fun...it's comical, but most of all it usually ends up in some form of the fist pump, shopping cart, or car wash. I dance for fun. Believe me, if my dancing moves landed me a man or even a free drink I would for sure question that guy's sanity. I mean, I guess if he was a goofball like me it'd be alright, but for the most part if you see me dancing I guarentee you will be questioning whether I'm worried about what I look like or not. The answer- I'm not. I just like to have fun. Plain and simple.

Now, I tell you all of this because to my surprise, at 'rehearsal' tonight, I didn't do terrible. I mean sure tomorrow night could be a little bit different when there are a bunch of people staring at me in my little black tank top and black shorts, but I handled my business tonight and I'm proud to say I didn't hurt anyone or anything in the process of learning the moves. This has not sparked some kind of interest in seeing how else I can bend my body and what moves I can do, but it certainly has made me realize that if I put my mind to something I really can do it! At one point, I was teaching everyone part of the dance...which should never happen, but it did! It was a lot of fun and even though it could all go terribly wrong tomorrow, I'm just glad I was able to say I learned part of the dance.

Myers-Briggs tells me I'm an extravert and there's no doubt about that, but we will find out just how 'out there' I am tomorrow when I will be on stage pretending to be Beyonce or as some may know her, Sasha Fierce.

I will leave you with the music video to remind you just how out of control it is and you can be the judge of how well I will be doing tomorrow night..