Go Big or Go Home

This coming week, The entire Rosetta Stone HR department will be in Harrisonburg. There may not be many of us total, but it's not every day you get to meet your colleagues from Japan, Korea, and the UK.

Now, it's no surprise to my colleagues that I bake. Most Mondays I am greeted with huge smiles, drooling lips, and the occasional scowl (diets are hard in my office) as I pass by with a plate full of goodies. I'm always trying new recipes over the weekend, and I think a little sugar helps too ease the pain of a Monday at the office.

This Monday, I am prepared to go big.

How big you ask?

This BIG....

(My blog is going to be SO COOL with technology of the future...can't you smell it!?)

It's not everyday you meet all of your international colleagues in person, right? Well, it's not every day you see a BIG cinnamon bun either! :)

The Itch

My Sister-in-Law have awesome blogs in which they take their fellow readers through adventures of redecorating and renovations of their beautiful homes. I love reading, and seeing, their accomplishments and sometimes I get "the itch."

What's the itch?" Have you ever watched the Food Network and felt the need to get up and cook a five course meal for yourself? Have you ever watched a movie that made you want to get out and change the world? Have you ever listen to a song that made you want to get up and start dancing? If you answered yes to any, or all, of those questions, you have experienced "the itch." Congratulations.

I have been pushing my itch to redecorate down for some time now, but it finally boiled over. I'm renting an apartment, not quite at the stage (mostly financially) in my life for a big fancy house like my siblings, and I can't see pouring tons of money into something that I don't even own. But I still want to decorate!
So, long story short, I finally did!

When I moved into the apartment, I was lacking some essential furniture, one of which was a dinning room set. My gracious siblings gave me a table and chairs and permission to change to my liking. Three months later I did just that!

before:
I'm not a huge fan of weird looking green grapes and leaves on my dining room chairs. It's a little gaudy. I guess I'm not Greek! And the room as a whole is a little bland.
Check out this fabric! gross.


Who says you can't Design on a Dime. Wait, isn't that a show?

after a little spray paint and some stapling...voila!

Add some linens and pictures, and it looks brand new. And pretty snazzy!

Left over fabric in the picture frames? Don't mind if I do!

Now, my place can never compare to all the awesome things my siblings have done, but it finally feels like me. And the most important thing (next to it being cheap) I had FUN!!

Adventure is Out There!

My blog was created before the movie hit the market, and though I know that none of those Pixar guys ever read my blog, I can't help but feel that this movie was made for me and my blog.
My adventure book may not be filled with a rainbow, female bird named Kevin. It may not have stories of houses floating on balloons, and it definitely doesn't have a talking dog wearing the cone of shame. But you know the sappy part in the movie where Mr Fredrickson opens the adventure book and finally notices all the pictures between his childhood and Paradise Falls? That's the part my blog has. The adventures that lead to the happy ending.
I may take periodic sabbaticals from writing in this thing, but my life is never short of adventures.
I think I found my new catch phrase! Adventure is Out There!

The Great Move

Four months later and my move from Blacksburg to Harrisonburg is now complete! It only took four trips with a Blazer and one trip with my little Oldsmobile, but all my belongings are in one, happy place!

Starting the move in February, the weather was quite cold and snowy. Having a large car with four wheel drive made all the difference.Headed down interstate 81 with the heat blasting and counting the cars stuck on the snow filled shoulders helped make the time fly and after only three trips,I had all my essentials!

A few months passed...

And then came May. The weather had definitely changed and it was time for me to gather the last of my belongings from Bburg. After walking a 5k one Saturday, I hopped into the Blazor, graciously on lone to me from my siblings, and made my way back down the interstate. This trip was primarily to retrieve a piece of dumpster diving furniture that I have fallin' in love with. The entirety of my adventurous trip can only be summed up in pictures...

No air conditioning! I looked pretty spiffy cruising down the road with a fan hanging from the sun visor!

Now folks, this was May!

Again, this was MAY! Needless to say, there were lots of prayers on this road trip and lots of "what ifs" running through my head. What would you tell an officer who pulls you over for having an expired registration and safety inspection AND it's not even YOUR car? And I would have to do it all while smiling with a fan running furiously in the background and a dumpster diving chair hanging out of the back.

Luckily, I never had to put those thoughts into action and all was safe and sound.
Oh the things I'll do for a good piece of FREE furniture...