Picture of the Day: Pillar Carving at Angkor Wat

Temples of Angkor, Cambodia
8.18.2011 

Hello!

As I am approaching a year since I started this blog I would love to hear a little more from the people who are taking time to read what I am writing. Learning about my commenters when they share stories or insights into their lives is one of my favorite parts of having a blog.

I thought it would be fun to directly ask people to share about themselves and have a chance to give me feedback on the blog or ask me questions, too. So, please tell me five random (or not so random) facts about you! I love learning what makes a particular person uniquely them.

Also, is there anything you would like to see on my blog or anything that you particularly like that I am already doing? Also, feel free to ask me anything that you would like!

I figured I would start things off with five random things about me so here it goes:

1. I've lived in four states and two countries but I think that I will probably stay put where I am for a long time to come. I've worked too hard on my house to move!

2. Whenever I am stressed, worried or thinking really hard about something I yank on my hair. It is a weird habit that I have tried to stop for years with no luck. I usually don't even realize I am doing it...

3. I am a terrible housekeeper. I know that when I post photos of my house it looks neat, but that's because I've cleaned up before the picture. I have a tendency to prefer working on house or craft projects to cleaning. It's just more fun! This is my craft room right now:

4. I've grown out my hair and then donated it to Locks of Love a few times. My hair is actually long right now so I should probably update my profile picture on the blog (it's from April 2011 right after I cut it last time).

5. My middle name is Marie

Okay, now that I have shared, tell me about you!

Picture of the Day: Cliffs of Moher

County Clare, Ireland
6.17.2004 

Election Day 2012 (& 2004)

Happy Election Day to the Americans out there! Today is such a special day as we get to make our voice heard and participate in our democracy. I feel so lucky that I live in one of the places in the world where we can change the direction of our country by peacefully voting instead of resorting to a coup d'etat or civil war.

My polling location is at a little brick elementary school a few blocks from my house. Seeing the people in my neighborhood walking over and waiting in line together epitomizes the special feeling of community I have on Election Day. The US, like all countries, has its problems, but I love the fact that I have the freedom to say what I want, openly agree or disagree with the government and vote as I believe. I am proud to be an American everyday, but especially so on Election Day.

I went to vote this morning but the line was an hour and a half long so I headed into work and then came back during lunchtime. This ended up having a special perk since when I went back a lady had baked a huge tray of chocolate chip cookies and had her daughters passing them out to the other voters waiting in line. I really love my little neighborhood.

This year I won't be able to have a party to watch the returns come in since I have a TV conference for work this evening. I'm a little disappointed, especially since it looks like it will be a tight race.

I thought for fun I would share my election party details from 2004 since I had already shared about my election experience in 2008 while I was living in Japan. Back then I was living in a little apartment in Oakland, California. For fun I hung up red, white and blue streamers draped from my living room ceiling and passed out red, white and blue bead necklaces to my guests.

For food I kept with the patriotic theme and had all red and blue snacks including blue corn tortilla chips with red salsa and candy bars with red and blue wrappers. I also made star shaped sugar cookies icing half in red and half in blue. For drinks there was red and blue punch.

My favorite part of the party was the felt electoral collage map that I made. I made two enlarged photocopies of an outline map of the US states that I found on the Internet and used them as a template to cut out all of the states in red felt and then blue felt. I mounted a large piece of white felt on a piece of foam core as a background for the map. As each state was called for either John Kerry or George Bush I put up either the blue or red version of the felt state on the board. It was a great way to keep track of electoral college standing throughout the night with my guests.

It was fun to get together with friends to spend time enjoying watching our political process in action. Hopefully in 2016 I'll be able to do it again!

Picture of the Day: Springbok in Kruger National Park

Kruger National Park, South Africa
7.29.2004

New Master Bedroom Closet Light

After working on some projects for my master bedroom closet, including my laundry sorter and shoe organizer I decided it was finally time to replace the light fixture.

When I redid the electrical when gutting the main section of the house I had to purchase a ton of new light fixtures quickly. In cases where I just couldn't find anything I liked in my price range I ended up just getting a super cheap fixture from Lowes as a placeholder to pass my electrical inspection. In my closet I had a little light fixture that was only $10. While it was perfectly respectable for its purpose, I decided it was finally time to find something a little prettier.

Nice looking flush mount or semi flush mount fixtures can be really tough to find. Also, since my house is originally from the 1800s I like to have my fixtures look classic and not too modern. Add into the mix that I didn't want to spend a ton of money and it seemed like finding the right light was going to be a needle in a haystack type of problem.

Off and on I would poke around a bunch of different lighting websites looking for something that fit. Then one day I found a semi flush up light from Progress Lighting's New Bedford collection on LightingDirect.com. The fixture looked classic and the price was great, too. With a discount code I got it for under $30. The only thing I was hesitant about was the glass shade which looked a little modern. I figured that for the price it was worth the gamble and decided to go ahead and buy it.

After the new fixture arrived, replacing it was easy. I simply switched off the breaker on my house's electrical panel for the closet, removed the old fixture and disconnected the old wires, reconnected the new wires and attached the new fixture. Each fixture is different but the same basics usually apply: black wires connect to each other, white wires connect to each other and the grounding wire connects to a grounding screw on the grounding bar.

I really like the new fixture, but I was right about the glass shade not being my look. The frosted seed glass really looks modern so I am on the lookout for a vintage shade on eBay that I can replace it with. I'd like to get something with a milk glass look like my hall light shades or my bathroom light shades. I do think even with the current shade this is a big improvement toward making the closet look nicer, plus I can put in a higher wattage bulb making the closet brighter. 

Next up in my closet I need to paint the trim and maybe put some color on the walls. I also want to build some crates for the shelves so that I will actually be able to use and organize them.

Have you been doing any closet organizing or upgrading? Do you have a lot of closet space or do you have to be creative to use what you have?

Picture of the Day: Great Wall Snaking Over the Jinshan Mountains

Great Wall at Jinshanling, China
11.2008

Resolution Recap: October 2012

How can it already be November? Where is this year going? Anyway, I am back with an update on my two 2012 New Year's resolutions of purging and organizing my home and finishing up some of the many projects I have going on around the house after not providing a recap about September. I had a lot going on in September at work and personally so I just didn't get that much done.

October was a little better for me on the resolution front. I did manage to get a little more done this month and while it wasn't my most productive I'm doing my best. In the words of an old boss of mine, "Do the best you can do. That is all you can do." 

Resolution 1: Purge & Organize
My goal of having a volume of at least one trash cart (between my recycling and regular trash) out on the curb on garbage pick-up morning every Monday was up and down in October but if you look at the average it isn't bad. Here's my breakdown:

- October 1: 1/2 full trash + 1/2 full recycle = 1 total
- October 8: 1/4 full trash + 1/4 full recycle = 1/2 total
- October 15: Nothing (In Woodstock)
- October 22: 1/4 full trash + 0 recycle = 1/4 total
- October 29: Overflowing full trash + 1 full recycle = 2+ total 

On the organizing front I built a shoe organizer for my closet door and I am trying to purge a bunch of my unused craft items. 

Resolution 2: Finish Up Projects

In getting some of my rooms updated I got a new dining table and new sectional and moved an old beloved table into the room. I didn't have much time to devote to projects since I was focusing more on cleaning, but I hope that November is a little better.

Did you work on any projects or do any purging at your house this past month? Are you still trying to stick to any New Year's resolutions?

Picture of the Day: Bridges Over the Vltava River

Prague, Czech Republic
6.02.2006

Picture of the Day: Rocky Beach in Floripa

Florianopolis, Brazil
5.27.2007