NYC tree

With the hectic pace of getting things done for the Christmas holiday, I really hadn't had time to do any kind of decorating. I overheard my girlfriend mention that she wouldn't mind a small tree, and this image of a tiny tree emmediately popped into my head. You know, those tiny cheesy trees that some take-out places have sitting on their counters. But, I didn't know where to find them. As I was running around one day picking up a few last items, a tiny tree sitting on top of a cash register in a 99 cent store caught my eye. It was absolutely perfect! Exactly what I had pictured in my mind. It even came with decorations(tho we added a couple of our own) and even lights! The perfect size for my tiny NYC apartment. So, I ran into the 99 cent store and snatched up my 06 Christmas tree for $10. I couldn't wait to see my girlfriend's reaction. She loved it! We hurriedly took it out of the box and put it together. It was truly perfect. It now sits on my TV shelf. It has turned out better than I could imagine. Merry Christmas to all who read this and a Happy and Healthy New Year!!

SOFA!!!

Finally!! My sofa arrived! It's been 8 long weeks since I placed my order. Why so long? It would have been delivered a week later if I went with the original color, but I decided to go with one of the optional colors. So, they have to put in the request and have the sofa made. It's a pricey(to me) sofa, so I figured I might as well get it the color I want. It was actually between this Tetris Flannel(brown) and a white color. I really liked the white, but thought it would get dark patches very quickly. So, I went with the darker color. I can't say that I'm totally happy with how dark the sofa is, but it is really growing on me. Like a fungus.... :) And, it wasn't as comfortable as the one in the store. But, I think the comfort will come with time. It's already starting. :) I was nervous up to the last minute because they told me that I would have to remove my front door to get the sofa in my apartment. And, I had no idea how I was going to do that. When it arrived, I was so very happy to find that removing the door was not necessary. They brought it in, screwed the legs on, and it was sitting in my apartment. After 8 weeks, here it was. As I had hoped, it has defined the area quite well. Now, everything will start to take shape off of the sofa. It sets the height, position, and color that other items should be. But, for now, I need to take some time and enjoy the sofa. Woohoo!! Sofaaaa!!

bathmat

So, the other day we were finishing up some Christmas shopping and just stopping into some shops to check out possible apartment items. We happened across this bathmat. Plush, worked with the colors I wanted in my bathroom, and it resembled the pattern of the mushroom on the Super Mario series. I wanted it emediately, but thought it would be too much. We were at West Elm. Checked out the price tag and realized that it wasn't too horrible. So, I carried it around for a bit just making sure I wanted it. After a few more rounds of the store, we checked out. To my surprise, I was charged less that half of what was on the price tag. Don't you love when that happens? I got a great bathmat for about $10. Nice!!

recycle!

Whew, it's been a while. I haven't done much on my apartment for a bit. Kind of taking it easy and saving some money for some larger items in the apartment. But, one evening my girlfriend and I watched a couple of inspirational movies. "Who Killed the Electric Car?" and "An Inconvenient Truth". I'm no activist by any definition and have no desire to be. But, I would like to do what I can in my everyday life to not add to the cancerous effect that we have on this little marble we live on. So, I decided to start recycling. BUT, my place is SO small. So, how can I have some recycling bins and not take up too much space and also not have exposed cans of soda to attract pests? Of course, bins with lids. But, do I want blue bins for the obvious recycling appeal or do I want a different color that flows better with the rest of my kitchen. My girlfriend mentioned whit bins and it just sounded right, so the color was set. Now where to find this item? As usual, Ikea is the first place to look. At first they had great recycling blue bins for under the sink use. Then, we happened across these white bins in the kids section. They're actually diaper storage bins. But, they were perfect! The right size to fit perfectly into a tucked away corner and they had lids that snapped on. Plus, the bins were small enough to work with the usual bags you get from any restuarant or grocery store. And, that was the start of my "recycling center". :)