New Apartment

I'm moving to a new place! At first I was looking for a little studio apartment, but the price difference between that and a one bedroom was just so insignificant, I sprung for the latter again. I'm taking this change as an opportunity to change up my color scheme, and I have fallen in love with GREY.

I have several white furniture pieces, as well as a few dark espresso wood bookshelves. I think the addition of some baskets would be a good way to introduce some texture as well as soften the dark woods. I think Garden Ridge has a great supply so I may check them out...

I need to pick my accent pop of color though! Hmmmm.

I really love the wall of art with all the white frames. Its sort of an extension of the simplified version I did over my bed. And it would be a great place to feature some of my sketches in my home! OOooOOo. I'm excited.

Also, now I won't have my own sink and vanity area seperate from the bathroom, so I need a vanity! I have always thought they were so cute, so hopefully I can find something a bit like this...

or this...

I really love the idea of all the hooks here as well! This way you don't have to put so many holes in the wall lol.

And speaking of vanities, I definitely want to come up with a way to hang my necklaces. Right now I just have them hanging from nails in the wall itself, but I love the idea of using a frame! I don't think any girl would NOT want to display her jewelry.

2012 Bucket List

I made a few unofficial New Years Resolutions this year... without actually vocalizing them lol. Besides the more boring practical ones that won't be mentioned here, the big one was just enjoying my life and taking advantage of opportunities that present themselves.

Enjoying the Present rather than dreaming of and planning for the distant Future.

A progression of this resolution is... a 2012 Bucket List!!!  This is just a more realistic list of some things I can look forward to and have fun with this year, rather than pining after things I cannot do now.

(like travel to Europe lol. Dream on, Ash)

I have already fulfilled some! Good thing too considering its almost halfway through the year.

I want to actually complete a sketch or drawing that I am completely proud of for once, and start incorporating art into my daily life. I signed up for a drawing class this summer to work on this!

 

 

Possibly thinking of Glenwood Springs, Colorado for some hiking, cave exploring, jacuzzing, and drinking in the fall.

Just for fun!

Gear needed: hiking boots, tent, sleeping bag, lighting, large cooler. Thinking of a fall trip to Arkansas to check out some of the waterfalls...

 

The Nutcracker, Dallas Winspear Opera House, December 2012.

 

I want to make a patchwork quilt.

 

 I have already taken a beginner class and gone twice at a lake! Now I just want to extend this to a paddling trail somewhere.

 

 
Looking forward to the rest of the year!

Christmas 2011

Um, yea. So my lack of a camera prior to Christmas thwarted me from posting anything for quite awhile.

But any guesses as to what Santa got me? A Camera!!! And the exact same one that had been stolen!

So here, finally, are some snapshots I was able to take when I came home from Austin.

I made some ornaments last year for my tree which I still love. Using a white snow tube paint, I drew on large snowflakes over green ornaments I purchased at Hobby Lobby. I then sprinkled some snow glitter immediately while the snowflakes were still wet. I loved how they turned out!

My next plan will be to create an ornament wreath with the plain as well as embellished balls for my front door. I had purchased some balls already, but the store ran out of the dark green I needed, hence the wait... At least it will be an easy project! 

My mantle! I had to change my christmas tree last year, so stopped with just the tree. This year I was able to add to my reindeer winter woodland theme with a new advent calender from Joannes, a white glitter reindeer from Michaels, a wreath, some bottle neck glitter trees, and a cute tree birdhouse from Home Goods.

Needless to say, there was some hunting involved to get everything put together lol.

I didn't even use the advent calender though! It was already a week into Christmas by the time I found it... can't wait till this Christmas though!

I added the pale green velvet ribbon to the deer.

I really hadn't found a set of 3 stockings I loved, so just purchased some simply white ones. I decided to individualize them a bit with letters for me and my two babies Bowser and Sasha.

I just made a bunch of cut outs from cardstock, and sprinkled a crap ton of glitter lol.

I also used the same technique for my Merry Christmas banner in my dining room.

It'll be fun to use these decorations in my new apartment this Christmas! And it won't be so hectic lol!

Hiking: Cedar Ridge Preserve

Hiking event number 2!

Since I am expecting only about 2-3 more weeks of tolerable weather conditions before the scorching wave of death begins that people call summer here, I am determined to enjoy the outdoors as much as my schedule allows.

Obviously this is Dallas, so the terrain isn't very varied lol, but I thought I could still find some enjoyable places to hike through. And success!

Cedar Ridge is just one park outside of Dallas next to Joe Pool Lake great for hiking.

We ended up doing just two trails, a 2 miler and a 1 miler.

The first took about 45-60 minutes, and was great! It was very shaded with trees, narrow trail, and lots of steep challenging climbs!

The second trail we picked was the one to a cute little pond, less challenging and more scenic. 

This trail was much wider and there were so many wild flowers.

We made it to the pond! I think they need to rename it; there were so many turtles everywhere!!!

Next time I want to check out Joe Pool Lake and try kayaking the Walnut Creek Paddling Trail!