Trading Offices

In my nine months of working for the college so far, I've moved offices a total of four times. That's right, you heard me: FOUR TIMES. Twice on the second floor, twice on the first floor. This is due to my boss's indecisiveness of where everyone should be, according to their jobs and departments. The good news is that out of all the offices I've had so far, my favorite is the one I'm currently in. Let's just cross our fingers that I'll be in it for a least a year!

When it felt like I was going to be in this office for a while, I decided to go ahead and do some light redecorating. I've only made some minor changes so far and will do the bigger ones later this summer.

Before, the furniture in the office was all cramped together and had a hideous fake tree, with an equally hideous pink chair, that took up a lot of space. It looked small. Take a look:

However, after I got rid of the tree, moved the console table to the side in the space of the tree, pushed my desk a few inches back, and added some illusion items (as in, the illusion of more space) like a mirror and a framed picture to go along with my other knick-knacks and decor, this is what it currently looks like:

(I forgot to remove the stacks of paperwork I have before I took the picture)

The majority of the things on this console were pretty cheap...
Mirror: Big Lots
Framed elephant picture: Salvation Army
Small box: Cost Plus World Market
Vase (incl. one on my desk): Ross
Thai buddha statue: Ross
Capiz frame: Ross
Books: from office library
Small drum: gift from Indonesia
Matyroshka (aka, nesting dolls): from my trip to Alaska
Small shell plate: gift from France
Purple tulip: gift from Amsterdam

Future decorating plans include hanging three vertical canvas painting on my back wall (the wall facing the back of my chair). To the left of my desk (not pictured) are two visitor chairs. I'd like to add a very small table between them and maybe hang a piece of artwork or another mirror above the chairs.

One of the IT guys passed my office the other day, stopped, and said, "I wish my office looked this lush." Just wait until I'm done, pal! Knowing my luck though, I'd get all settled in, finish making my office look pretty, and then have to move again!

French Connection

I have a ton of work to do, and probably shouldn't really be typing-up a post on my blog, but I can't seem to get motivated to do work today. Probably because I just spent two fun days with my grandparents (more on that in a separate post) and the aftermath of the fun is distracting me.

Another thing that is distracting is my new-found fascination with inexpensive DIY (do-it-yourself) home projects. I've been building up an interest in interior design and thought a good first project whould be dining chairs to put in my modern french-themed dining area. When my sister moved out, she took the dining chairs with her, since she bought them. I've been succumbed to using the little wooden chairs from my garden and, let me tell you, they are NOT comfortable to sit on when trying to have a nice dinner.

Taken from an idea that I found on one of my favorite blogs, bryn alexandra via a guest blogging post she did on another fav jeune marie, I surfed my local Craigslist to find some used dining chairs that might have some fantastic potential. Here are the contenders:

The chairs in this pic are cute. They have simple lines, which would make them simple to paint. The cushions look easy to remove too, which would make them easy to reupholster. The seller labeled them as "antique," so I'm questioning the sturdiness.

I LOVE the design of this chair. It would really compliment the victorian Paris painting in my dining area. The person is selling two of them. The seat wouldn't be as simple to reupholster and I would need to be tedious about painting them, since the arms and top of the back have an intricate design. Still though, they may be worth getting.

Since both sellers are selling two each, I may buy from both of them. You can't really tell, but the legs on the two different chairs actually match. They have a common look between them, which makes me think it might be neat to buy both sets. I was originally looking for just two chairs, but having a set of four would probably be better.

If I buy them, I plan on painting them a soft white, like Bryn did. I think it would look good with my black wood dining table. Here's what I'm thinking to reupholster the seats:

It's a simple, very very soft blue-ish green color that would look pretty on a white chair and would compliment a black table. Plus, with the chairs having a busy design on the backings, I thought to keep the seat color simple.

All I need to do now is buy the chairs and find a weekend where I'm actually not doing anything, so that I can devote the time to do this project!

Update: I bought two of the chairs in the second picture. The lady lowered the price from $175 to $100! I couldn't say no. Keep checking back for restoration updates on this bargain!

Emotional Roller Coaster

The last seven days has had me on quite an emotional roller coaster. Allow me to take you for a ride on the highs and lows...

Sun., June 14

High: Went to the flea market with my sister, where we found some great stuff (more on that on another post) and had some quality bonding time -something we don't get to do that often, despite living only 2 miles apart.

Higher: Went to my friend's bridal shower, where I reunited with old friends I hadn't seen in a while.

Highest: Geoff won the golf tournament he was in!

Low...very low: Geoff's best friend Brad called to tell us that his mom had passed away earlier that day. Geoff has known Brad since they were 8 years old, I've known him since I was 13. We all went to high school together and both Geoff and I knew and loved Brad's mom. To Geoff, she was like a second mom and the news hit him quite hard.

Mon., June 15

Low: Geoff was rather distraught from the passing of Brad's mom, so I stayed with him on Monday night.

Lower: My cough has been very difficult to shake and was so bad that night that it caused me to gag and throw-up (sorry for the graphic info).

Tues., June 16

High: Had a solid meeting at work.

Higher: My office has a softball team and we won the game against the Student Life department! At the beginning of the game, my boss told the other team, "We're just here to win. I'm not sure what you guys are here for." Ha ha!

Wed., June 17

Low: Drove back up to Irvine so that Geoff and I could drive together to Brad's mom's funeral the next morning.

High-ish: Spent nearly 6 hours cooking food for Brad and his dad to eat over the next few days. Made homemade chili for the first time (it was so good!), honey cornbread, mashed potatoes, chili-cranberry meatballs, and chocolate chip cookies.

Thurs., June 18

Low: Went to Brad's mom's funeral at Rose Hills. Service was short and sweet, what she would've wanted.

High: Brad and his dad were really happy that I made food for them. No one else did, which surprised me. They thought they would be stuck eating the leftover sandwiches from the reception after the funeral service.

Higher: After everyone left the reception at Brad's dad's house, Geoff, Brad and I sat around, just the three of us, and spent the rest of the afternoon/early evening just talking. At one point, Brad sat back and said he felt relaxed.

Fri., June 19

High: There was hardly anyone in the office, so I did a little work and took an early day.

Higher: Met with my friends, Janis and Trista, to have lunch at Felix's Continental Cafe in Orange. They have the best Cuban food!

Highest: Came home and took it easy for the rest of the evening. Took a short nap, read my book, watched a movie, and kept things relaxed and quiet.

Sat., June 20

High: It rained the whole morning and stayed nice and cloudy throughout the day.

High: Went with Geoff to look at a car he wants to buy. Test drove a Mazda 6 and we think it's a winner! The people at the dealership were really nice. They even had a guy making free carne asada soft shell tacos outside. My favorite!

High, or Low??: Went with Geoff to a drum & bugle corps show in Walnut. Geoff used to play in a corps called Pacific Crest. The show was mostly boring until the last three groups, which were fun to watch.

Low: I left my dog alone in the house for over 12 hours. I felt really bad.

Sun., June 21

High...Really High: Remember this post about my paternal grandmother who kept flaking on meeting me and my sister? Well, today, on Father's Day, I finally met her. She and her husband flew out here and we all had dinner together. After dreading this moment all month and spending the day trying to calm my sister down, our first time ever meeting our grandmother actually turned out to be pretty good. More than good, really. It was great and I'm happy that she's here visiting. She's an upbeat woman and her husband is warm and friendly. I instantly liked them both. I plan on taking half days at work for the next two days while they're here visiting. I'll be sure to do a post about their visit. This was a very memorable Father's Day.

Up, down, down, up, down, up, up...you see what I mean about emotional roller coaster. However, I'm glad that it has come to a full and complete stop on a high note.

I Heart Zack Morris

He still looks exactly the same.



I love the references he makes and saying Kelly "moved to a different zip code." If you don't get that joke, you must be living in a hole.