Hokay, Sho...

Now, I wasn't planning on having this project completed until Sunday to blog about, but I recieved some... less than settling news last night, which put me in the mood to finish off my organizing cleaning spectacular in the Office.  Here's the problem with our office... I let Boyfriend be in charge of it.  Big Mistake.  Huge.

Here's the before:

Okay, this is in fact, my work area, so this is my fault.  But beyond here lies... well... Boyfriend's fault.

 

From the doorway (note the pile of dishes, beer bottles, and trash surrounding boyfriend's area...).

 

The closet... filled with boxes we still haven't unpacked from over a year ago.

 

Finally, a corner full of boxes and computer stuff.... 

And after a full day of pulling out boxes, assembling shelves, and organizing, (plus breaks to watch Grey's, Modern Family, and Eastwick) I'm proud to show off the  AFTER:

 

My work area.  The board above my desk has some finished greeting cards waiting to be sent out.  You can also see the huge daquiri that Brett picked up for me when he went out earlier.  Trust me, if you had been through what I've been through in the past 24 hours, you'd need one too (by the by, that's not a reference to the cleaning, but to the unsettling news I received in regards to... well, I don't want to talk about it.)

 

The closet, NOW.... much improved.  The pink boxes contain craft supplies, the unit on the left will house my laptop when I need desk space for crafting, so that I'll still be able to listen to my tunes.  You can see that I took the hippie way out when I decorated and utilized my sarongs... but I'm not ashamed, it warms the place up a bit.

 

Our new bookshelf.  It holds the contents of most of those boxes you saw in the before pictures.  Including all of my textbooks from school...

 

Boyfriend's Desk (and Charlie's tail).  MUCH BETTAH.  Note the trashcan I strategically placed next to the desk... Still a mess of wires otherwise, but, I get the feeling it will be hard to control that.

Some clean floors, and an extra cute goggie.  

I know... I haven't posted in like a week.

I have a few posts that are coming together.  I will do a giveaway, and I will be doing a fantastic update on how I am transforming my home office (which Boyfriend had taken over with trash) into an office/crafting studio. 

It's all in the works.

I promise.

In the meantime, I've been up to a lot latley:

- A little bit of "fall madness" cleaning/reordering.  I don't know why, but I've been sort of "nesting" latley trying to make the apartment more homey ( I think it's because I've finally resolved that we aren't going to be buying a house for quite some time now)

- Lots of crafting.  I have several greeting cards in the works (including some halloween cards I'm sending to a few besties this year).  Some wedding DIYs.  And several pieces of beaded jewelry.

- I took up playing "Magic: The Gathering" (now, before you go calling me an uber-dork, hear me out!)  Boyfriend has been having trouble making friends, and recently we found a place where he could make some friends through playing Magic.  HOWEVER, due to his social anxiety and hermit-like ways he doesn't want to go alone.  Also, he hasn't played in over 10 years and is afraid of being laughed at by the other boys because he doesn't know the new rules.  So, I decided that I will be his buffer.  I took up the game in hopes that I could ask all of the dumb questions, and make him feel more comfortable. 

-I am also organizing and creating a catologue system for my DVDs.  They have taken over the living room.  I'm removing them from boxes, putting them in sleves, assigning numbers and ordering them.  Then I put the movies in my catologue system (which I'm using Google Docs for, so that it can be accessed on my iPhone) which can be sorted alphabetically, by genre, by year of release, or on a scale of 1 to 10 based on the like of either me, or boyfriend.  So far I have processed over 100 movies, and am about 1/3 done with the movies.  Then I will start with the TV shows, then workout videos.  I still haven't decided where to put all of the boxes (which I naturally want to keep)

Anyway, This has gotten too long.  more updates to come!

XOXO,
Miss Rachel-Ann

The Colors DUKE!

I was searching my brain hole for something to blog about today (because, I do not want to slip on my bloggly duities) when it hit me. I haven't really talked about the colors for the wedding!

Initially, I thought black and white with deep red accents (think, the color of a red rose) were the way to go. Then I started reading wedding blogs. Suddenly, my world was flooded with beautiful colors: blush pink and buttery yellows, muted pinks with pewter and charcoal, khaki and turquoise, etc. All of these color combos that I saw and loved crashed down on my black and white "classy" affair.

As I considered all of these muted palettes, I tried to figure out what “my vision” was. I considered what was important to me about the day. Is it important to have a high class function? Was it more important to have fun? How will I feel about these colors as I look back on my wedding day?

I ordered swatches of paper from paper-source and started looking at these combinations that I had fallen in love with. I discovered one thing, they just weren’t me. Anyone who knows me in real life will tell you that I’m anything but muted. For starters, I’m LOUD, it’s almost obnoxious. I’m strange, and have slight impulse control problems (if I think something will be fun, or funny to me, but doesn’t put other people at harm… I’ll probably do it). I’m bubbly; I’m one of those cheerful, laugh-y, excited people that everyone else hates. These colors were dull, and un-exciting, and NOT me.

Over time I realized what was important to me: that I have a kick-ass fun-filled party with good food, good friends, and picking colors that set a FUN tone became my goal.

I was flipping through a bridal magazine when I came across an ad (for a company that now escapes me) featuring girls is hot pink and iridescent orange dresses. I found my colors. Pink and Orange. In various shades (because, let’s be real, one dimensional colors are boring.). I’m planning on using bold shades, because, that’s how I roll. I’m so excited for things to start taking on more shape, and come together.

FALL!!!!

One of my favorite things about fall - aside from the return of highs BELOW 90 degrees - is the return of fresh Candy Corn to store shelves everywhere.  I love Candy Corn.  From the buttery-sweet taste to the chewy texture.  It is, without question, my favorite candy.

Yesterday at Target, I was looking for a bag with small individually wrapped portions of candy corn (which serves the function of slowing down my consumption, as well as keeping the humidity from ruining the candy after the bag has been open for more than 2 days).  I stumbled upon something... something wonderfull.

Yes, that's right, Hershey's Kisses CANDY CORN.  I grabbed the bag immediatley, and sauntered off to the register so that I could get home and try this bag of wonder.

When you unwrap them, they pretty much just look like candy corn, but when you put them in your mouth... magic happens.  This has the same smooth creamy texture as white chocolate, but also has the buttery-sweet flavors I love about candy corn.

I am in love.

Plus, chocolate isn't as readly attacked by humidity, and the individual wrappers will keep them fresh enough that I can eat one or two at a time, without any worry that the whole bag will become a sticky mess the next day.

In other news, yes... I am a bad blogger.  What can I say?  Hopefully, this post will mark a return in a big way.

I know, I know...

I haven't really been blogging as of late, because, to be honest, nothing exciting is going on at the moment.

I recived my Vera Bradley Bag, and that has been the highlight of my week.  No Kidding.

I stayed home from work on Tuesday, because I have been sick.  I do not have, the flu or the cold, but rather, my stomach hates me, and any food other than cereal and toast seems to make me nauseous.

That's been my life.  Eating cereal, loosing weight too quickly, and not working out, because i simply don't have the energy to even remain standing for 20 minutes.  Oh, and doctors, lots of doctors. 

However, I am DETERMINED not to let this ruin my upcoming Trip to Ohio.  I leave on Saturday morning: we'll drive up to Boyfriend's mom's with Charlie, and stay there for a few days, before meandering south to visit with Miss Amber Lane and my brother. 

Things I hope to do while in Ohio:
 - eat at Chipotle
 - eat at Skyline Chilli
 - relax
 - cause general mayhem with Amber
 - order a bridesmaid dress (and perhaps, look around for my girls to wear?)
 - perhaps try on a wedding dress or two (i don't know... I can dream right?)
 - enjoy some crisp air (since, we wont see crisp here for another month or so)