The Grand Tour

Well, we have lived in our current place for some months and have had much more freedom with our new landlord, a.k.a my mother in law, so we have been able to paint and customize our space to feel more homey :)

We finally have most everything away to where we are proud to show it off (you can't rush these things). So, for all of our friends who don't live around here, you can see how/where we live :)

Without further ado, the Hallway:
I had to show the fact that we have photos in our frames. The sat empty for a really long time.
Gotta hang the keys somewhere.
My cute Bistro sign no one ever sees because our hall is so narrow. I wanted to give it its moment to shine.
The Kitchen:

We love the purple walls. The table is also super cool because it is just a square that has two built in leaves that level themselves when you want to make the table bigger. Thank you Ikea.

Our glass top stove never looks this clean, so I had to strike while the iron was hot for this photo.

The Front Bathroom:

You can't really see it, but the shower curtain is doubled up. The brown tree one is behind a clear one with a green leaf pattern all over it. I love both curtains but the other shower has sliding glass doors on it.
The dog in the mirror is also a permanent feature in any room, because he will follow you everywhere... even into the bathroom.

The Office:

We love Ikea, if you can't tell.

The records and (dun dun na na!) Justin's diploma :)
The record player, which ironically sat in this exact place for several decades before we lived here. But hey, it still works and I can say I have a hi fi :) And yes, that is an 8 track player on top of it.

The Living Room:

Yes, the carpet matches the door mat. Thank you Angela :)
The back view of the office, complete with our fish. And yes, those are wedding pictures.
The super comfy couches.

The freshly completed wall feature. I added the bottom shelf recently.
I needed a space for our all time favorite picture with is also our all time favorite souvenir from a trip.
Our Bathroom:It is purple and green. If you haven't noticed the overall purple and green theme yet, perhaps you will now.
And last but not least, Our Room (my favorite room):

Your eyes are not deceiving you, it really is that green. The color is called "leprechaun."

I had to show this because I'm proud to finally have something in my frames. It took over a year, but finally we have visual proof we got married.
The tree above our bed is our second favorite souvenir. We got it in New York outside the Met. It is actually a paper cutting. It was done kind of like a snow flake but incredibly more complicated. Also, if you have seen our business website, this is the tree the whole site has on it.
I'm proud of this curtain too because I've had the curtain rod up since we moved in, but had nothing hanging on it until maybe a month ago. What makes it even better is that the panels cost me $3 each.
The cleanest our dresser has looked in a long time :)
Overall, I love the look of our bedroom and how it has turned out. I feel so adult and put together when I look at it.

The Shark Review - Continued

So, I have had the Shark Navigator vacuum for one month, and so far, I love it. I find myself vacuuming more frequently than I ever have in my life just because this piece of machinery makes it so easy to do. I know that I sound like a bit like an infomercial when people ask me about it, but I guess I will just have to accept it. I tried out the pet hair attachment today after discovering that the Gordo has started his biannual change of season shedding, which is more like a sheds-a-bit-more-than-normal. His fur was all over the couch after we brushed him, so I decided to test that baby out. I have to say, I was quite impressed.

I have another feature that I don't believe I mentioned very much in my previous posting: the size. This vacuum is incredibly compact for what it accomplishes. It is lightweight, and is so small it can fit into our teeny hall closet along with our steam mop, broom and dustpan, and ironing board that sit in front of all of our towels and such on shelves:
Here is a shot a little backed up so you can fully appreciate the dinky-ness that is the size of this closet:

The one downfall to this mini-vacuum is the size of the canister. I know a lot of it is my dog's hair combined with a wool carpet that sheds constantly, but I have to empty the canister in the middle of vacuuming my one carpet. For the rest of the tile, I can usually use if for most of the house before emptying, but the hair fills past the max fill line fast.

I also have to say, I love the dusting attachment. I cleaned our entire bedroom on Thursday, dusting all of our furniture, including candle holders and picture frames and even under the bed. I was even able to suck the dusty build up off of the air conditioning vent in the ceiling. It even got fur off of slightly fuzzy surfaces that have never looked this good since I bought them.

So, I'm still going to wait another few months before I make my final judgement, but I am enamored with the Shark Navigator thus far. :)

Impromptu Norah Jones Concert

Tonight, I was lucky enough to go and see Norah Jones in concert. It was amazing! What makes it more interesting is that I didn't know I was going until 30 minutes before we left.

On the sad side, my mom is sick with a very painful and very long named illness. The tickets were hers, she was supposed to go with my dad, my sister, and my sister's boyfriend. Try as she might, she just couldn't muster the fortitude to go out to the concert, so she offered the ticket to me. So, I tried not to act to happy, but also not disappointed.

So, we went to see Norah Jones at the Bob Carr Performing Arts Center in Orlando, and we even got roasted pecans :)

Here are some of the videos I got with my phone during the show (I'm sorry they are a bit shaky):

Chasing Pirates:

Don't Know Why:

Come Away With Me:

My Angela Is Gone :(

Well, it is official. Angela left for Queens, NY last Friday and I'm still in withdrawals. At least I had the opportunity to hang out and sort of help with the moving process.

On Thursday, we just kind of hung around the house. Angela picked up delicious Chicken Nachos from Mad Maxx's Grillin Shack - which I highly recommend if you are wanting a calorie filled, delicious meal. Before we left to get the food though, we had this little bit of fun:

Gavin was incredibly excited about having two vacuums in the house. Earlier in the day, he and I did this same routine for at least 20 or 30 minutes. Eventually Angela got the idea to switch it up and move the vacuum and see his perplexed reaction. It was really funny. Then, when Cheryl came over, he had to show her as well :)

The next day, my mom and I went over to help wipe everything down so they could get on their way. We had to wait for the movers to finish, so while they loaded everything up, we hung out in "osh room" - which translates as Josh's room. We had fun holding Harper and playing with Gavin. By the time we were finished, I just wanted to get pictures so I could remember how cute Gavin is right now :)

Justin and I will miss the Smiths and their little family. We will have to bug them in NYC sometime - hopefully soon :)

The Shark Review - This Vacuum Sucks

So, the time came for us to purchase a new vacuum. Our vacuum that we bought on the day after Thanksgiving last year for $35 at Walmart is complete and utter crap. Do Not Buy the Eureka Maxima unless you enjoy rolling a vacuum back and forth for no apparent reason.

Anyway, when I looked at Target to see what they offered, I decided to look up online reviews and see which one is best. What a waste of time. IT is a complete crap shoot choosing a vacuum. All of the good reviews are 1) written after using the item for 5 minutes or 2) written by people who are paid by the company to do so. They sound like infomercials, for real - normal people don't talk like that. A good portion of the reviews aren't even about the product but the store they purchased it from. Yeah.

So, I posted my woes on facebook and received a huge response. Friends were telling me what they had, how happy they were with it, and what surfaces they worked best on. After 3 days of combining online reviews with vacuum rating site (which also sound like they are tipped by the companies) and with my facebook friends opinions, I reached a decision: The Shark Navigator.
I know, I know. I'm cliché for buying something with an infomercial that keeps telling you, "It's amazing" à la Billy Mays, but I could not ignore the evidence in its favor, no matter how dumb the commercial is. I figured I could buy it and give it a try. If it sucks - or doesn't rather - I can return it.

Before I tell you the results of this new machine, I first must let you know the testing conditions:

1) Understand first that my apartment is completely tiled. The only carpet we have is an area rug, and the rug in question has changed several times over the last few months. The rug you see pictured here is just as new as the vacuum cleaner; well, new to us, that is. My dearest Angela is moving to NY next Friday and decided not to take this with her, so she gave it to me :) I just picked it up today and it's so much nicer than any of the other rugs I've had in this space. This one is wool and it is actually plushy, a new concept in this house. Also note: wool carpets shed. Angela informed me when I picked it up that it takes several years before they settle enough to not shed anymore. Anyway, the vacuum needs to be able to work well on tile as well as on carpet of various heights.

2) Also understand the nature of my "only sheds twice a year" dog who actually sheds constantly. He's 14 months old and I'm willing to bet that if I had saved all the hair I have swept and vacuumed up around my house in that time, I could have molded it into at least two Gordo sized corgi replicas. Even when I sweep and vacuum what I think is absolutely everywhere I still get tumbleweeds of hair rolling around. I have no clue where they come from, but they are a constant in my life. I love my Gordo, so I accept the tumbleweeds. So, the vacuum needs to be good at collecting hair, even when I can't see it; and it needs to pull hair off of plushy fabrics. I'm tired of lint rolling my carpet and couches when people are coming over. (Yes, that is what I have had to do.)

So, for this experiment, we will be using my living room with the new/used carpet that has been freshly shampooed:
The carpet needed a vacuuming, Angela even told me that when I picked it up, but just to look at it, it really wasn't that bad. After vacuuming the bare tile floor under where the carpet would go as well as giving the rug a good once over, this is what the tank looked like:

Yeah, it was really full. I unintentionally let it fill about 1/3 over the "max fill" line. This was a good sign. Apparently it can suck out a lot of crap when it doesn't look that bad to the naked eye. Score one for the Shark.

The Navigator also has some very handy features. There are two positions for the on switch: click it once for the bare floor or cleaning attachments, click it twice for carpets. The second click activates the roller brush. This is nice because you won't burn your carpet if the vacuum sits on it while you are using the hose to clean something else. Another perk is the button to remove the tank. This button is right next to the on switch and just makes the whole tank pop out = no clipping anything or lifting a thin plastic door that breaks easily. It came with a variety of attachments, including a dusting brush, a pet hair brush, and a crevice tube. Even emptying the canister was easy and you don't get dirty! You just hold the tank over a trash can and push a release button to make the bottom hatch drop out. I did kind of give it a shake and then I had to take a paper towel and grab some hair that was stuck to the top filter, but it wasn't a big deal.

So, remember, I only vacuumed a 5x7 area of tile and the area rug, and this is what came out of the tank: I felt like a very dirty person, but simultaneously felt the hope of being not so dirty anymore.

In conclusion: This vacuum sucks so far, which in a vacuum is a good thing. I like it. It's small and light with neat features that are easy to use. It sucked well on the tile, not blowing the dirt around but actually sucking it up, and dug deep down in the carpet to remove more dirt than I thought was there. The dusting brush (a personal favorite in any vacuum) worked nicely, and I went on to clean my storage ottomans and lamp shade to great satisfaction. Also, it's not very loud, despite what some of the reviews I found said.Happy as I am with it thus far, I still want to see how it lasts with regular use over several months. So, if you are curious, check back in a while and I will let you know how it holds up. Hopefully this posting helps all you potential vacuum buyers make your decision better than the online info I found on the subject did me. And for those friends of mine who follow my blog and just read through this whole thing only to realize it's not really about our little family much at all, I apologize and promise the next posting will be. :)

One Quarter Down

Well, I am officially a quarter of a century old. We had a fun weekend in spite of other unfortunate events. Justin's grandpa Charlie passed away early in the morning of June 18th, the Friday before my birthday. It was a sad affair, but at the same time, he was miserable for the last several years of his life with pain and frustration from strokes, so we know he is much happier where he is.

So, in an effort to still help me have a fun birthday, we called up some friends and went to the Hard Rock Café for dinner on Saturday night.





They made me stand up in the middle of the Restaurant and everything. It was a lot of fun.
And since we could't just end the night there (I mean we had driven all the way to City Walk), we topped it all off with a night of karaoke at Rising Star, a karaoke club with a full band and back-up singers. You stand on the stage with lights and everything. Most of us submitted our names with random songs. I have to say I was a little disappointed that they didn't call Justin and Shannon's boyfriend Michael up to sing "Hot in Here" like they had requested, but luckily Shannon and I graced our audience with "Wanna Be" by the Spice Girls.

Also, Aimee sang "Hard to Handle" by the Black Crows, which she did very well and very reluctantly I might add :)



We had a blast watching the other patrons sing as well. Our show included a very drunk bachelorette party, a very effeminate male Lady Gaga impersonator, and two female Columbian tourists who spoke almost no English. We will definitely go again, and maybe next time they will let Justin sing his song :)

On Monday, June 21st (my actual birthday), Justin and I had a low key day around town - we couldn't go very far because his grandpa's viewing was that night. So, I requested a photo shoot. We haven't had the chance to go out to a neat place and just shoot off film with our weird cameras in a long time, so I suggested a nearby abandoned sunflower field.




Monday night, after the viewing, Justin took me out to P.F.Changs for a b-day dinner, which was scrumptious.

Also, Justin was very thoughtful and got me a few of the random things I Have been wanting: The Sims 3 Ambitions (I love it, it's my thing, let it go), Orange Blossom Water and Rose Water (to make Moroccan food with), and the Hungry Girl 1=2=3 cookbook :)

So, even though the weekend had a much more important thing to take care of, I still had a great birthday. Here's to the next 25!