The Place I Call Home

Our living room (the only room that doesn't have boxes lying around)

When our lease on our old apartment was coming to an end, Kevin and I started looking for a new apartment complex. We really wanted to buy a house, but that didn’t work out – and probably won’t work out for another two years or so (but I’ll save that for another post). I thought I found a perfect apartment complex for us, but it was a little farther out in the burbs and farther from our offices.  Read = Traffic would be an absolute nightmare.

At the time, I thought that’s the only area we could afford since Houston rent is going crazy. The pictures online made the place look amazing: granite counters, hardwood floors, and even a little fenced in front yard for the dogs. The problem? When we went to tour the apartment, we found out that only certain units had the updated kitchen and floors (ours wouldn’t). Our unit would have the regular, older countertops. Which is fine. I’m not picky. But for the price they wanted, I was sure we could find an updated apartment. Kevin hated that complex anyway.

Luckily, we started looking closer into town and by our offices – even though we thought there was no way we could afford it. I’m not sure where we got that perception from. Maybe it’s because the area is becoming increasingly popular and is known for all the huge companies that line the street.

We spent an entire Saturday going from apartment complex to apartment complex, probably seeing about 15 of them within a few hours.  Some were way out of our budget. Others were way, way, way out of our budget. Then there were the older, but renovated, complexes that were within our budget.  Yay!

We went down the entire street; we saved notes from each complex. We compared. We crossed some off our list. We loved some and hated others.  It was actually going pretty well and stress-free.

The apartment we currently live in was the last apartment we saw.  We left that complex like the others (with notes and a brochure). We noticed it was a nice apartment. I loved the open floor plan and that it was a first floor unit. I loved that it came with a washer and a dryer, and that the kitchen was updated in 2010.

We still had other apartments to see, but when we were on our way the leasing agent called us. She said she would waive a dog deposit ($250) and also knock off ~$50 from the rent price each month. We knew we probably wouldn’t find another apartment in that price range for that nice of a place, so we went back, wrote the complex a check, and signed the lease.

It wasn’t until I was unpacking boxes in the kitchen that I realized something. There wasn’t a pantry.

Then I realized other odd things – the kitchen is pretty small. So small that you can’t open some of the drawers all the way because they hit other drawer handles/appliances. The same thing in the bathroom. I can’t open one of the drawers without closing the bathroom door.

I don’t mind that it’s a small space. But that was kind of annoying. (I’ve learned to just deal with it for now.)

Kevin likes to be organized. When he started unpacking things he realized there wasn’t a coat closet in the living room. Then we realized the only closet in the unit was the small master bedroom closet.

Our last apartment not only had a pantry, but also a walk-in master closet in the bedroom, a coat closet in the living room, and a linen closet in the bathroom.

Space is very limited. We have boxes on top of our kitchen cabinets. We have boxes on the floor in the small dining area. We have boxes on top of my bookshelf. We have unpacked boxes in our bedroom stacked against a wall.

We are running out of space and we’ve only lived here since March.

The moral of my story is – don’t exhaust yourself looking at places to live. Kevin & I saw so many apartments that day that it was hard to remember what apartment had what.

I don’t want to come off as negative and that I hate my home. Because I don’t. This apartment is much better than the last one, but in different ways. Sure, we lost a lot of storage space. But what did we gain? Closer to work. Closer to our families and friends. Wood floors. A patio for the dogs. Oh, and we’re on the first floor.

Not having to walk the dogs down three flights of stairs multiple times a day is amazing. That alone is worth losing closet space.

Hello, bunny!

I’m in love with bunny tattoos, which is really weird because I actually don’t like bunnies at all. They’re cute – don’t get me wrong. But their teeth are scary, right? Can’t they slice you up very easily (kind of like a paper cut)?

I used to have a bunny named Brownie, but he was run over. My sister had a bunny named Oreo who lived to be about 14 years old I think. He actually moved to my grandparents’ house where they let him roam their house all day/night.

Before I share the photos of the bunny tattoos I like, I just want to state the obvious: tattoos are permanent.  If you want to get one, think about it and do your research. Good tattoos are expensive. Cheap tattoos are not good. This is something you’ll have on your body for the rest of your life, so you might as well save up your money and make sure you get the best tattoo you can get. Even if that means you have to wait a few years to get one.

Adam Cornish 

Riki Kay

Michael Joss

VX

Rosie Malone

Summer Must Haves

Now that the rain has passed –thankfully—the sun is finally out and Houston is about to hit 90 degrees. For those who aren’t aware, Houston saw a crazy amount of rain over Memorial Day weekend. I actually had to sleep at my parents’ house because their street was too flooded. Kevin and I stupidly tried to leave, but I ended up almost having a heart attack once I realized I had no idea where the ditches were. It was impossible to see how close we were from falling into a ditch. We ended up switching spots, so Kevin could reverse us back to my parents’ house. It was not fun. So me, Kevin, and the dogs slept in my parents’ living room that night. By morning, the water was practically gone – but most of Houston was still crazily flooded.

Scary fact: Texas saw 35 trillion gallons of water in May, which is enough to cover all of Texas in eight inches of water. 

Now that the sun is finally out, I officially feel like it’s time for grilling and going to the pool/beach! And to go to the pool/beach, you need a few essential items:

A bag. This pineapple beach bag ($38.68) is adorable & I wish I had something just as cute. I usually take my old backpack to the beach because I don’t mind getting it wet and dirty, but this pineapple bag is perfect for a random pool day.  Inside my beach/pool bag, you’d find: sunblock, a towel, chapstick, my phone, and maybe a book or magazine. If the dogs are coming, you’d find tennis balls, plastic bags to pick up any bathroom breaks, a ton of water bottles, and a portable water bowl (or Tupperware).

A cover up. I love this lace cover up from Target ($22.99). I usually show up in an old tank top and shorts (again, because I don’t mind them getting really dirty). But part of me has always wanted a cute cover up to throw on.

Flip flops. You can’t go to the pool or beach without something to protect your feet from the hot pavement or sand. Flip flops are a great choice because they’re easy to take on & off. I adore Rainbow flip flops, even though they are really pricey at $55. The thing is: they last forever – unless, like me, your dog eats them. Before Zoey ate my only pair, I wore my rainbows for years. They mold to your feet, so they’re always comfortable. Plus, they are strong – throughout everything I put them through, they always looked really nice and new-ish. I don’t have it in my budget to buy another pair yet, but eventually I’ll own some again.

A cooler. Dehydration is not fun, so be smart and pack a lot of ice and water (and whatever else you want to bring) into a big cooler ($15.88).

A waterproof beach mat. I spend 95% of my time at the beach on the sand (because Galveston water is gross), so it’s important to me to have something to sit on that won’t end up completely sandy and soaking wet. I bought an outdoor mat (not sure if it was advertised as a picnic mat or a beach mat) from Target two years ago after the summer season (huge sale!).  It’s big enough for two people to comfortably lie down and soak up the sun. I also like it because you don’t have to use it only at the beach. You can bring it to the pool, an outdoor movie or concert event, the park – anywhere you may think you’ll need to sit on the ground.  The one pictured is $19.99 at Bed, Bath, and Beyond.

What are your beach/pool essentials?

*This is not a sponsored post.

 

 

Love the Life You Live | Inspiration

The man or woman who hates his work scowls at the alarm clock, rolls out of bed with frustration, takes his time getting ready, mopes around the office, counts the minutes to 5pm, turns on the television when he gets home to distract himself, and then goes to bed late only to repeat the cycle tomorrow.

On the other hand, picture the man or woman who enjoys their work. She can’t wait to get started in the morning, she prepares her body with healthy food and exercise to accomplish her best, she invests proudly into her work, and returns home with energy. And then, she can’t wait to get started again in the morning. - A Life Worth Waking Up To - Joshua Becker

Please hop on over to read Joshua Becker's A Life Worth Waking Up To. It's a wonderful article about living a life you love, and how if you do that, you make more time for life itself.

Boozeless June - The Launch

When I decided to do my No Dairy Challenge in June, I also considered my other bucket list item: no alcohol for a month.  I decided cutting out both dairy and alcohol is too much to do at once, that surely I’d fail at least one of them. But then, on June 1, I decided it wouldn’t be too much – that I would complete both of my bucket lists items simultaneously.

I don’t drink too much nowadays – maybe two times a week.  On the days I don’t drink, I have a lot more energy (duh) and of course I don’t feel shitty from hangovers (although I don’t get hangovers very often anymore).  My favorite types of days are the ones where I wake up when the sun rises and take advantage of the entire day.  I don’t like sleeping in even until 9 AM.  After a night of drinking, though, I find myself getting out of bed around noon and then lounging around all day.  Not to say that lounging around all day is bad. I do that probably once a week – where I mostly stay indoors and binge on Netflix. It’s relaxing. But on sunny weekends, I like to take advantage of the weather and the full day of possibilities.

I can see myself running into temptation this month. My favorite beer fest starts in two weeks. It has hundreds of beers to taste. But, I’ll buy myself the Designated Driver ticket and won’t try any. Last year I tried a lot of samples and ended up feeling terrible – not because I was drunk, but because it was so many different tastes and different strengths of beer.  It was also about 100 degrees outside and me + sun + alcohol don’t mix too well.

I’m really looking forward to not only feeling amazing this month, but also seeing how much money I save by not drinking.

Shoes & Blenders

I tend to hold on to gift cards for a long time, pretty much storing them until I have a small pile of them. This is great when you have gift cards to the same store (like Macy’s) and can join all the gift cards towards one purchase, but not so great when you have gift cards to a lot of different stores.

Luckily, I usually get gift cards to the same stores because only a few people give me gift cards. Kevin’s parents have always given me Macy’s and Bed, Bath, & Beyond gift cards for the holidays and my birthdays. I’ve saved them for about 1.5 years, mostly because I had no idea what to buy at either of those places.

But I finally spent them.

Nike Free 5.0

At Macy’s, I ended up buying myself some new Nike tennis shoes, even though I was considering buying new bedsheets or plates for our apartment. I chose tennis shoes because it was pretty much a necessity at the time. Zoey got out of her crate that week and ate the only two pairs of tennis shoes I had (and also some of my nice pairs of heels). But, I love my new shoes and the best part? I had enough gift cards to cover the entire purchase. Nothing like free shoes, my friends.

Bed, Bath, and Beyond

At Bed, Bath, & Beyond, I bought Ninja Blender. I’ve pretty much made something in this blender every day since I brought it home last week. Smoothies are so easy to make! Kevin & I always have fresh fruit in the house, so all I do is throw some in there with a little bit of ice. I also made an Oreo Milkshake, which obviously isn’t as healthy, but it was incredibly awesome.  The next thing we want to make is homemade margaritas. If you have a recipe for that, please send it my way! (or any smoothie recipes, especially ones that don’t have dairy since I just quit eating it- ugh!).

This is probably the most pointless blog ever, but using my gift cards was on my bucket list – so I had to write about my success. Dork? Why, yes. I guess I am.

Life Without My Favorite Foods | The Launch

Hello, June! I know I say this about almost every month, but I cannot believe how quickly May has come and gone. A lot of things happened in May: we celebrated 6 birthdays, including the birth of my nephew.  Like they say, time goes fast when you’re having fun.

I chose June for one of my bucket list challenges: go one month with no dairy. I understand that it may come off as a weird challenge – why choose dairy out of all things to give up? I’ll tell you why.

1. I’m lactose intolerant.  
2. Dairy is very inflammatory. It has become one of the most inflammatory foods in our diets. 
3. I am highly convinced that the more dairy I eat, the more acne I get.  This is from my personal experience and reading studies. 
4. I am curious how much better I will feel. 

On one hand, this could be an easy challenge for me.  All I have to do is stop buying my Lactaid pills (they’re the natural pills I eat before I drink/eat anything with dairy in it). If I eat/drink dairy without a pill, I get super sick.

On the other hand, I tried this before and I failed miserably. I love cheese.  I love desserts like cakes and brownies and ice cream.  Within about two days of deciding to go dairy free, I marched myself to the store and purchased more Lactaid. And then I enjoyed dairy again.

June may also be easier because there isn’t too much going on besides a few birthdays and Father’s Day.

Maybe I will find that the benefits of quitting dairy far outweigh my love for dairy products. At least, I hope that happens. Wish me luck!

Edit: I’m not cutting dairy out 100% and making my life stressful by looking at ingredient lists on bottles. I’m simply cutting out the obvious dairy – like cheese, ice cream, etc.  

+ I had no idea what type of image to put on this post, so I chose a random cow one.