Woolly Pocket wall gardens

I found a new fun thing I want for my condo, Woolly Pockets.  http://woollypocket.com/ Yup an indoor garden that hangs on your wall.  I have been getting the itch for a garden lately, and as I don't even have a deck to put pots on, I have been thinking about alternatives.  I saw this company on Apartment Therapy and am pretty excited to try it out.   Now I just need to decide where to hang it....

Master Bedroom Closet Project #1

The master bedroom has a ton of closet space for a downtown condo in an 1890's building in Boston.  Two big closets!!  Unfortunately the previous owners did a really poor job of organizing the space which made most of this closet unusable.  I finally got fed up and ripped out the shelves and then went after the supports with a crowbar (which meant I had to do a lot of patching later).  I sadly didn't take photos of the before or the process, but here are the after photos.

The closet originally had big horizontal shelves going all the way across it from left to right.  I put two rods on the left side with enough space under the bottom one for shoes, and then a top shelf over the top rod.  On the right hand side of the closet I made five shelves.  The first shelf starts fairly high up so that there is room to taller items on the bottom (vacuum, laundry hampers, bike pumps, tools, etc.)  In the middle are a few hooks for hats, belts, etc.  Eventually I hope to move the ladder to the basement :)

The floor is linoleum tile, which I covered with a coat of primer, and a few coats of satin finish espresso latex paint. 

The bins are from Bed Bath and Beyond.  The bottom one has dog stuff and the middle one has cleaning supplies, light bulbs, and rags.

The constuction begins

Finally getting around to posting on my condo rehab project.  Here are some good before photos.  Well I have done a little here and there....but nothing substantial.

The master bedroom - already fixed and painted the bow windows and hung some roman shades on the three windows.  Had to get custom shades from Smith + Noble because the windows were unusual sizes.

The traumatized pooch

The awesome ceiling in the master bedroom...

My pink bathroom with no storage

Whoever thought dropped ceilings in residential bathrooms was a good idea should be buried alive under a big pile of wet foam ceiling tiles

The hall looking towards the second bedroom -  dirty, horrible paint job, industrial electrical panel (which only supplies 30 amps) and to top it off, the intake vent for the heating system right smack in the middle of the floor.  (I will tell you more about the heating system later).

The living room - the roof is getting fixed and in the process we are putting in an access hatch/skylight in my living room, since the building had no access to the roof other than climbing out the small window in my bedroom and scaling the side of the building.  Also note that prior owners left the spot for a wood burning stove...but no stove, oh yes, and they stuffed the hole with newspaper :)

Last but not least, the kitchen - I already pulled up one layer of linoleum when I first moved in because the previous renters had a cat who had left his mark.  I covered the sub floor (which is on top of another layer of linoleum) with rubber industrial floor mats from Home Depot.  I also already tore out some cabinets and covered everything in primer, mostly to get rid of the O de cat.  First major purchase for condo was the stove pictured.  When I moved in the original from 1962 was still here.  Amazingly it worked fine, but since it had a pilot light that burned all the time (no electric ignition) it scared me a tiny bit, so I bought a new one pretty soon after moving in.  I must say it doesn't look half bad in these photos.  I should try to find the true "before" photos I took earlier.

Surprising goodness

Sometimes life surprises you with its goodness. 

You thought you knew how it would work out.  You thought you knew what happiness felt like, or at least looked like.  You thought you knew what it was that would make you happy.   

Then life throws you a curve ball and surprisingly you swing and make contact and the ball goes sailing out of the park.  It wasn't supposed to happen that way....but then, the way it turned out is even better than anything that you ever conceived.  In fact, you thought it was only this good in other people's lives, or actually, you thought that when they attempted to describe the goodness, you thought they were ridiculous, illogical and exaggerating.  But now you know, and you can't believe that you get to experience this joy.

Have to write something on 1/1/10

"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't live with the results of other people's thinking. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. " - Steve Jobs

best laid plans

You can see the image of how you think you want it to play out.  You may even go so far as to live in that made up illusion for a while.  But eventually you wake up.  Eventually someone pinches you, or something breaks or comes crashing down, and you open your eyes and realize that what you wanted to build doesn't exist and by trying to live in it, you are actually missing out on what is right in front of you. 

2009 in summary

I can't exactly say that I am sad to see it go.  I mean yes, in lots of ways it was a tremendous year for me.  But there was a fair amount of disappointment and heartache too. 

2009 you started out with a newly found freedom, the freedom to discover, what I wanted, what I needed, what I loved, what I hated.  The world was full of hope and expectation and excitement.  Early on I learned that brutal honesty is the best policy, that it prevents a lot of pain.  I learned that gracefulness is key and people's feelings and emotions should never be toyed with. 

Spring came and with it the drudgery of work, the endless snow and ice, the lessons of short term sacrifice for long term gain and that even if we work really really hard for something, we don't always get what we want.  But there were sparks of new beginnings, an idea that was taking shape with a friend, and someone who showed me a small piece of what I had been missing all these years.

Summer was trying, weather in the Buf was beautiful, but I struggled through learning important lessons about standing up for myself, about true leadership, about how egotistical, self centered and selfish people can be.  It some how continues to surprise me.  But at the same time I got to have a wonderful time with a good friend, she was there to help me process, to be on my team and to encourage.

Fall....hummm...ends and beginnings.

Winter:

• Why am I still in this God forsaken frozen city! Patience and the ability to suffer for long term goals.
• Reflection - having dated someone who checks all the superficial, lifestyle and family boxes I realize that while that makes some things a lot easier, he didn't fulfill me on a deeper level and I couldn't trust him.  So now I am reevaluating, what is it that I really need to make me happy?
• Excitement - 2010 I think will be good, I am excited about building things 
  

Justifying selfishness...

In order for marriage to be successful, before you get married you have to be completely selfish and after you get married you have to be completely selfless.