My office on campus

You guys, it's like the 21st century in here. Today I am blogging for the first time on my beautiful new iPad. I'm still waiting for the novelty of the touch screen to go away but I get it now. I totally get how someone could get sucked into the Internet by way of Apple technology. This is the view from my window. The theater looks out over the Olentangy River. I think we're pretty spoiled to have a window to the outside world and I'm looking forward to watching the seasons change from up here.

And thanks to Steve Jobs I can show you my office with the camera. The one built into my iPad! Dudes, my minds is blown right now.

So here's my office. I share it with other people but this is my little corner of solace at school. That's Gonga on the desk. He belonged to my mom when she was in the Navy and now he's my little reminder of home. He spends most of his time watching over my pencils.

It's Friday and that means my office hours are almost up and then I'll be heading out for a drink with some of my friends. What does Friday mean for you?

Love, Elizabeth

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Office Makeover

If you’ve missed me on the internet, this is one of the things that has kept me away. I’ve been working in the office for days and have finally surfaced for air (and pictures)! This was a makeover on a serious budget so I tried to make the most cost-effective purchases I could and use almost exclusively things I already had. That’s my mom’s trunk from her days in the Navy. It’s full of pictures and scrapbooks now and I’ve repurposed it as a coffee table.

Here is one of the set of two matching glass lamps I found thrifting. They’re so beautiful and were a legitimate bargain at just $6.99 each. Kyle found shades at a big box store and I love the coppery warmth they add to the room.

I decided to brave the clearance paint aisle at a certain large store that sells things for a very low price and discovered a heatherish-gray color and a pinkish-tan for just $4.86 a pint. Kyle sanded down my grandmother’s old desk and I repainted it. I took some sand paper to the edges to make look a little more worn…I can’t decide it that was a good move or not but the color is a great improvement overall.

Oh, and yeah…hi, I’m Elizabeth and I’m a big ol’ copy cat. I no-apologies, straight-up stole this from Jenni over at Story of My Life. I justify it by saying simply that I have in my possession pictures from our childhood together that she may or may not want made public. Just kidding. ….or am I? No, I’m totally joking. I’m not. I am. No, not really. …..

I seriously love what she did to the wall in their master bedroom and will go ahead and admit that this is like one of those off-brand knock-off versions. The real thing is much, much better.

I used a combination of frames from my closet, my favorite thrift store, and the Dollar Tree. The prints are mostly clippings or postcards or photographs I’d saved, along with a couple prints from CAPow! Along the top left, you can see what my row of handsome daguerreotype boyfriends collected from flea markets and thrift stores. 

One of my favorite things I framed was a necktie-tying tutorial I had clipped out of Reader’s Digest years ago and stuck in a box. I smiled when I re-discovered it in a box of memorabilia.

I rescued the little loveseat from my neighbor Melissa who was going to throw it out when she moved. It has a couple muddy stains from where her dogs ran over it on a rainy day but other than that, it’s in great shape.

The wall-hanging is a bamboo shade that’s too small to fit any of our windows. Anyone who rents knows that leases don’t always allow you to paint a room so it’s great when I can find other ways to bring color and texture to the walls.

What do you think? And what summer project has kept you busy?

love, elizabeth

Office Re-Do

Well, all I have to say is, FINALLY. To be honest, I have been in a major blogger’s funk for the last few days. Or maybe just a general funk. I feel like I’ve been stuck in the middle of my office for centuries. But at last, it is DONE. I’m sure I’ll find plenty of things to change later but I’m excited to have a clean, neat space to study and work in for the fall!

I can’t even begin to describe to you the blood, sweat, tears, and threats of banishment to the couch that went into hanging these shelves. If there was any project that has ever PROVED how not perfect our communication skills are, well…this was it. I think, mostly, Kyle has learned how impatient and demanding I am (ie. ‘those shelves are NOT straight…is the level not working?’) and I have learned…how impatient and demanding I am. But our marriage survived the hanging of these shelves and that might be called a small miracle. Thank you, Kyle, for loving me enough to hang them. Again. And again. And again. (Oh, yeah…and those two pictures are my awesome CAPow! prints from the giveaway over at Story of My Life…and I love them like they’re my children.)

My accidental collection of antique thimbles.

My accidental collection of buttons.

Just have to point out that the Dominique Appia print, Between the Gasps of Memory, hanging over my desk was given to me by Sarah in the 9th grade and it’s still my favorite.

Re-purposing is one of my favorite decorating tools. The envelope organizer is actually an old shoe polish box. You can see the slots where the shoe was hung to shine.

I found this sweet old guy languishing in a thrift store a couple weeks ago for $8.98. Someone left their DVR remote in his cushions but he’s still in great shape.This was supposed to be my recliner but Madigan has claimed it. She really likes to eat her breakfast here or sit and judge me for my lack of motivation. Either one.

Kyle and I have a big map of the United States on the wall and we’ve been trying to keep track of all the places we’ve visited together.

Some of my favorite bulletin board artwork.

And this is my favorite picture of Kyle of all time. I took it in Steamboat Springs in the summer of 2005. The summer we fell in love. Can you see it in his eyes? I can.

 

So…I feel like I’ve been not-blogging for forever (or two days, whatever). What have I missed? What are YOU doing this week?

love, elizabeth