Month: September 2011

Smash’em Up

~ Julia

Charlie and I went to the Ashland County Fair last night. In addition to seeing the different livestock his students had entered for judging, and eating loads of fair food (yes, let’s talk about how well my personal training is working out…), we saw three hours worth of demolition derby!

The lawnmower demolition derby was pretty cool, but I think my favorite were the small pickup trucks: the smashes were a lot more spectacular, and there was more room to move around since there weren’t as many entrants. Of course, just like when we go to the movies, Charlie and I finished off our food/beverage before the main feature even started.

Wish you could have been there with us!

New Header

~ Julia ~ 1 Comment

As you may notice (if you check the website directly, rather than reading it through your favorite RSS reader), I have a new header!

Many thanks to Charlie, who designed it based on some sketches I drew up, and totally put up with my client design shenanigans for tweaks. Yes, we both went to art school, so we can speak the same language, but there’s always different pressures when playing client/designer.

I’m noticing that there might need to be a few tweaks to the header (for example: white backround + white page text = bad news, bears), but overall, I’m really, really pleased with it.

Charlie wants to start freelancing some design work, so if you’re interested, please get in touch, and I will pass on your inquiries to him.

Weekend Recap, September 9 – 11

~ Julia ~ 1 Comment
Friday:
On Friday, on our so-romantic-we-can-barely-stand-it date, we ended up at Target, be-bopping around and looking at the Halloween candy/decorations.  I must say that I do not have a problem with retail stores setting out for Halloween so early because a) it is my favorite time of year/holiday, and 2) last year, it seemed like it barely made a blip on the radar. Though it’s probably a little early for me to decorate my office, at least this gives me some time to save my pennies and purchase some items.
Or, they could all be purchased because of the mad retailing rush, and by the time the first week of October hits, I’ll have to pick through rotting Halloween retail carcass for decorations…

Speaking of Halloween, I will also have to get going and purchase my Halloween costume so it’s ready in time for T&C’s party. Much to the chagrin of every kid in a Northeastern Ohio neighborhood, parents forced us to put costumes on over long pants and sweatshirts. By the time I reached adulthood, of course I said I was going to wear whatever I wanted, dressing-for-the-weather-be-damned.

Of course, the sad reality of living in Northeastern Ohio during Halloween cannot be ignored, I must admit on top of that that I am a freeze-baby, and must now put costumes together that are both costume-y AND warm. The above costume is a winner on both accounts: not only can I wear some Under Armour (or, in my case, the C9 knock-off), I also have a woolen shawl I can wear over it to stay warm. /thinker

Saturday:
This weekend, the family was supposed to go to Yankee Peddler, but of course, weather did not permit, so the ‘rents and I went on one of their shopping excursions, wherein they randomly choose a TJ Maxx off of the list the GPS lists, and then head to one.  We ended up in both Niles and Boardman, Ohio.

On our way back, MomZ and I picked out new hair colors: MomZ because she and DadZ are going to Wyoming in a week, and she wanted fresh hair, and I because I was tired of having way-faded-red ombre hair.

The results:
I think that this is as close to my natural color as I’ve ever gone.  I’m not sure because I’ve been dying my hair so long, I don’t really remember what my natural color is.
Sunday:
On Sunday, I helped MMK with an event at the PASO picnic. It was good to see her again: we hadn’t seen her in long enough that she hadn’t even seen my new car, which I got back in December! Now that she’s back living in Ohio, though, I think we’ll be remedying that. The other highlight to working at the PASO picnic Sunday was stuffing my face full of Filipino food. Good gravy, that barbecue was amazing!

All in all, good weekend, hopefully rounding itself into a good week.

Lookie What I Built

~ Julia ~ 1 Comment

The nice thing about living in this house is the huge closet in my bedroom, where I can store most of my clothes in any given season. And good lord, did I have a ton of stuff, including shoes and handbags.

Also, occasional random-ass stuff, too.  Here, have a look at the closet from about two years ago.

Organization strategy, as of this photo: a hamper on the bottom left; plastic storage tubs (inefficiently storing things that should get pitched) bottom, right; folding racks (that migrated from college); thick plastic hangers on the bar crossing the length of the closet; dividing shelf space on the top.
In the past few years, I’ve been culling a lot of items from my closet, using these awesome felt hangers that take up so much less room, and doing a lot better at rotating seasonal clothes. My closet was definitely not as sardine-jammed as the before picture.
Though looking at some of the pieces I no longer have, I am feeling a little  frenzied-Hoarder-induced-wardrobe-reduction regret…
Despite the cleanup, I was still hating the way my shoes and purses were jammed on the top shelves with the rack, but had largely been reluctant to pull the trigger on shoe organizers until last week, when I finally bought two of these.
I’ve used some complex tools to build things when I was in art school (arc welder, baby!), and let me tell you – this was nothing like any of those projects. All it took was a phillips screwdriver and a small hammer for wood screws and finishing nails.


I only smashed my finger once.

They fit nicely in my closet. The cubbies are a little tight for my very high heels, but I’m pleased nonetheless.

I’ve scooted all of my shoes down to the cubbies, my bags and sweatshirts have been moved to the racks, and I have some room to grow. I think I’m going to get more racks for stacking; or I could get these wire shelf dividers as a way to divide up purses.
I’m also thinking of ways to store my linens.  I’m not sure if I will use one of these hanging organizers in my closet (and eat up potential closet real estate), or just use the now-emptied drawer in my TV hutch that used to hold my sweatshirts.
And given that Labor Day Weekend up here in Cleveland was a cold, rainy bust, I’m  guessing the next major closet project is going to be switching out some of the summer/winter wardrobe.