Weekly Update

This is basically what the week consisted of in pictures:

Sitting in the locker room at work with a makeshift dinner because I stayed longer than my actual shift to help out. (Hot dog, cinnamon bun and a pepsi. Cost me all of $1.57)

Working out/being a walking ad for Under Armour. Nike Running informed me that I have been active 4 weeks in a row. This is definitely an achievement for me (besides organized sports I never stick to a workout routine for longer than a few weeks).

 

My view while I waited for the bus every day that I had to take it. Not a bad one and of course it hardly ever rains here so it is completely amaze.

And a random selfie in my uniform. That is all I wear lately. It is actually quite comfortable!

Well there is my week. We also set up our Christmas stuff and I have a post about that coming up this week. You can also look forward to another love list and of course the "6 Months away" update for the wedding! 

I'm also starting this new thing as of today. At the end of every weekly update, I'm posting a random fact about me. You know.. things you may not know :) I've been told by a few people that they don't really know much about me. Here is the first one:

I am 100% Portuguese backround. My Dad was born in Sao Miguel, Portugal (which is part of the Azores) and my Mom's parents and oldest brother were born there too. 

This means I can get my citizenship anytime I want. Which also means that once I have it, I can go live and work anywhere in the European Union:

 Pretty sweet deal if you ask me. Anyway. That is all :) Make sure to check back this week because I have our Christmas decorating post going up with a special video we made ; )

Organizing: Manual Binder

I've seen this cool way to store your manuals floating around Pinterest. Basically you just put them in paper sheet protectors and then put them in a binder. I tried this but what I found was that things with thicker manuals didn't fit and things would just fall out. So I took it a step up.

I got these slide lock binder pouches. They can hold up to 100 pages of paper so they have a lot of room in them. Not only do they fit normal sized papers but they also fit bulky things too including large manuals folded up! And nothing will fall out because it zips close :)

These tabs sit on the top and they stick on anything you put it on. The pouches are too big to put normal dividers so these work great!

Here are all the manuals for the kitchen appliances section. I put them in different pouches with like brands in the same pouch.

 I recommend a very pretty large binder depending on how many manuals there are. If there were any cords or extra plugs or anything, I put them in with the manual as well.

Throwback Thursday

March 2008

I don't know if I had mentioned this before but Brandyn and I had met about 3 months before this time. When I see these pictures I think just think wow we have known each other for a long time! lol

Oh look... I was doing the duck lips before it was cool. How hipster of me ; )

Blog Love: The Sweetist Digs

Coming back with another chapter of my blog love, or blog reel as other bloggers like to call it...

Gemma's blog is all about doing projects around her house. What is great is that she has a bungalow but still makes it her work for her and her little family. She also has her own Etsy store and for those local to Ottawa, a decor rental company specializing in vintage stuff. I wish it was closer to me!

Here is a little snapshot of one of her latest posts (plus her neat blog design)

Weekly Recap

Happy Movember! 

One of my neighbours has this on her door and I found it so cute so I had to take a picture! Why didn't I think of this?! 

I still can't believe it is already November. Christmas has snuck up on me big time. This weekend I went full swing into Christmas shopping. I got almost everyone on our list done plus a few holiday decor items *insert wide eyed smiley face here.* The decorations are going up tomorrow which I am so excited for!

 

 Target has an amazingly cute selection of holiday stuff.... PS :)

As for this week, it has been crazy busy. I took a couple extra shifts at work for some people (and regretted every minute of it because it was crazy busy at work as well lol.) 

Last week basically consisted of this:

Getting the apartment ready for my posts touring the apartment (which you can read here, here, here, here and here. 

Squeezing my runs. One day I didn't have time so instead of taking the bus I just ran to work. It was zero degrees outside and super windy and I looked like this....

  

Loving the socks over the leggings right? Me too. I was seriously warm though. Only thing that wasn't were my hands and the backpack was extremely annoying (I had to hold it while running which killed my momentum big time) so now some gloves and a Camelback have been added to my Christmas list.

I also booked the cake and ordered the topper for it. I won't be doing an individual post about it because I am not revealing what it looks like but I will be doing a post later this month because we will be 6 months from the wedding! Andd I finally finished the thank you cards for the shower!

Lastly, I set up my dressing table. It is not completely done yet but I will be doing a post on what has been done soon. 

1 Month In: The Living Room

So last but not least: the living room. Here is the before:

The day these pictures were taken I was there to have the cable and internet installed. I was also really sick so that is why there is a blanket and Gatorade on the floor lol. Anyway. Here is the place now:

The view from the hallway. The bookcase is not even near done. I haven't organized it or anything really. I have just thrown stuff in there as you can see.

Here both cats have made an appearance. This is where Kitty hangs out 24/7 basically. The bins beside the media console are empty and are going into storage at some point in time... lol

The living room is set up into sections. On the left with the bookshelf will be my office area. The middle is the TV area obviously and then Brandyn's computer on this side.

And the empty wall that will soon be my office area. Those bins in the corner are full bins (childhood stuff) and are going into storage as well. The carpet is still rolled up because i just haven't put it down yet.

 

As you can see, not much at all has been done with the living room. It took forever to unpack mainly because we didn't have bookshelf so I was just unpacking things from one box to put in another. I got fed up and went and got the bookshelf I wanted. 

What we still need to do in this area:

• Bring those items to storage 
• Get some throw pillows for the couch
• Add some art above the couch
• Finish my office space
• Look for a rug that fits the room better (also another part of the reason I haven't put it down)
• Get a new couch cover (the cover ripped in the move but a new cover doesn't cost that much)
• Get a coffee table

That is basically in order of importance as well! lol

 

And that, my friends, is our apartment as it stands right now! You will see it again very soon though because on Tuesday we will be decorating for the holidays and the Christmas music IS coming on despite Brandyn's protests :)

1 Month In: The Kitchen and Dining

Moving along to the kitchen and dining room portion of the apartment...

Before:

Now:

The kitchen is slowly becoming organized. It is one of the rooms that takes the most work to organize so it definitely doesn't happen over night. I've implemented a few things here and there. Using your vertical space is one of the best ways to maximize on space in your cupboards so I got this shelf for my plates and as you can see a few of my soup bowls and mugs fit right in there as well. This one is from Target.

This is the little coffee corner. I grabbed one of these hangers from Home Outfitters. It just hooks on to the bottom of the cabinet. Mugs are easy to reach and the sugar is right there as well. 

Pots are one of the most annoying things. Especially the lids. I have this little shelf built into my cupboard so that makes it easier. I also got this lid organizer from Target. It is a life saver. As soon as I saw it, I grabbed it, no questions asked. Eventually I would like to install one of those pull out things (see here) for the pots and pans. They are kind of expensive so it may be a while before that makes its way into here.

For the kitchen, I still need to:

• Finish organizing everything
• Get some art
• Get a new microwave**

**The story behind the microwave: It is huge and it is heavy. There is no working plug on that side of the counter so not only does it take up a ton of space over there, it also needs to be moved every time we want to use it. Not convenient at all. We can't get around the moving it part but what we can do is get a smaller one. Can't wait for that day!

Now for the dining room!

Before:

And now:

The garbage is in the dining room because that is the only place we can put it lol. I also have that little island there with the mixer on top. That is my "baking station." The baskets underneath hold all my baking stuff. Pans, measuring cups and all that. I got them from Walmart (and the island thing from Ikea). It is actually a perfect spot because if I need more counter space or am baking, I can just wheel the island forward and place it in front of the kitchen doorway!

Say hello to the maroon blinds that came with the apartment.... moving on. The basket in the back holds blankets and wedding stuff. We got that at Target for a steal because the price was labelled wrong. I personally don't think it was worth $70 anyway....

And here is a closer look at my baskets. You can see I have 2 small ones at the top. I originally wanted wire baskets but I couldn't find any that were the size I wanted so this had to do.

Here is what I have left to do in the dining room: 

• Get the art I talked about in a previous post
• Do some DIY magic to the island (it probably won't be done until the spring because it involves warm weather to let paint dry)
• Replace the temporary fold up chairs with real (and by real I mean nice) dining room chairs