Not Just a Prison in Kansas

Howdy y'all!  I know everyone and their brother has already expressed their incredulity at the fact that it's October, but I want to join the fray.  Wow, can you believe it's October already?!?!  Where did 2012 go?  

Aaanyway, I better start off this post by wishing my mother a very happy 37th birthday!  Don't question the age, just accept it.  Blogging on her birthday reminds me that 4 years ago I was doing the same thing, from Kenya!  Wow, talk about time flying. 

Okay, okay, I promise I will get to the meat of this post, just bear with me.  Leavenworth, a United States prison in Kansas.  While I might have the chance to tour that place someday (hopefully for the RIGHT reasons), I think it's atmosphere would be quite different from the Leavenworth I toured with my friends last weekend.  

I have actually posted about Leavenworth (the non-prison one) before when I took a tour with family in January 2011.  We trudged through snow and slush to visit shops and spend money I didn't have.  This time was much better weather wise... but I still don't have any money.  

We started the day late and only managed to catch a few shops before they closed, but have no fear, I still managed to spend L's money.  Our friends Kevin and Shelly made the trip with us and we all had a blast.  After the shops closed, we caught some live music, had a few drinks and played the most ridiculous game of ping pong you can imagine.  I must note though that I won.  

L's restaurant. 

The soon-to-be bride who collected hugs from all the men.  I promise, there was a real person there, this is just a depiction. 

Told ya. 

All in all, definitely worth the trip.  If you ever visit Washington, make sure to put this stop on your list! 

Not So Lime Green

I love green.  Green and black, my two favorite colors.  My motorcycle really is perfect for me! 

Ahh, Kado, how I love thee. 

So, back to green. I really love that color.  Isn't it the best?  L and I went yard sale shopping on Sunday and everything I bought was green! I'm a tad obsessed.  Just a little.

That being said, green shoes. To DIE for.  The only problem.  I'm broke. Really, you guys, it's not that funny.  If I didn't have such a wonderful boyfriend, I would have starved months ago. 

So shoes over $10, not exactly in the budget.  Have you seen the price of non-boring shoes lately?  $10 doesn't go very far. 

Sooooooooooo

I made some.  Why not?  Pinterest has taught me that I can make anything! Have I mentioned I'm gonna make cheese one of these days?  

So, I started with plain white shoes from Walmart.  $5.50

I added Lime Green Tulip brand fabric dye. $2.99

And 1 day, 1 hour later I ended up with.... not so lime green shoes. 

That, um, isn't exactly what I was picturing.  But, they were under $10!!!!  And honestly, they are still pretty cute. 

If you are thinking, "Wow, she looks great, I wonder if she has lost weight!" Thank you!  Yes, I have!  10 pounds to be exact. Y'all are so sweet!  

Thanks for reading!  Check back later for more... not so... DIYs! 

Immaculate is My New Favorite Word

I may have slacked off on posting about my house cleaning endeavors while in Portland.  But I believe I can quickly catch you up on the highlights with a short and simple post.

By the end of the trip I had finished cleaning out both the garage and the living room.  Remember what the garage looked like in the beginning?  Let me remind you.

It's okay if you said holy crap... I said something very similar.

Here is the 'finished' product.

Everything pictured here was meant for the yard sale.  It was either sold or given to good will at the end of that day. 

Remember this room?  It looked really dark in the picture above because it was so full of stuff. 

I don't even have a picture of this from 'before.' It was on the far end of the garage and there was no way I could get there alive in the beginning.  But now it's clean!  (The bottles pictured are simply waiting to be taken to a hazardous waste facility). 

The living room transformation, well, you just have to trust me.  Because I completely forgot to take a before picture.  But believe me when I say, the end result is a big deal considering the start! 

I hope it's obvious how much stuff we got rid of.  A lot.  It took me 7 1/2 hours to set up for the yard sale.  And 2 1/2 hours to tear down (with the help of my uncles).  Sadly, we only made 208 dollars profit from a yard sale that took weeks to put together. If we only count the amount of time it took to set up, run and tear down the yard sale; I made $11.55 an hour.  But we all know that isn't all that goes into a yard sale.  Needless to say, we were a little disappointed.

Pictures of the world's biggest yard sale below.  And even though we didn't make a really decent profit, I'm proud of the work I did this past month.

Synonyms for Clean

I definitely missed my calling.  I mean, really.  Who wants to help catch criminals when they can clean out houses so expeditiously?! Sounds like its time for me to quit school and start a business. HAHA,kidding. 

NOT kidding about the speed though. 

I made it to Portland last Tuesday. But things didn't get really exciting until Saturday.  From Tuesday to Saturday I spent some time gathering trash and catching up on life with my aunt and uncle (and occasionally my cousin).  I also worked on small projects, like sorting through old slides to find the good pictures and cleaning out the filing cabinet that hadn't seen a shredder since 1992.  I also did lots and lots of shredding.  I guess that goes along with gathering trash, huh?  

On Saturday however, my (other) uncle arrived at the house ready to work.  We loaded up his truck bed with 260 lbs. of trash.  Yes, I know the weight; don't question it, they charge by the pound at the dump I'm just that good.  UDW (Uncle Dummy Wimp- a name I affectionately gave my uncle over a decade ago) then fixed the bed frame on a beautiful oak bedroom set that I'm attempting to sell.  

These accomplishments gave me drive and momentum.  I haven't stopped.  Sunday was spent sorting items already in the house, and Monday and Tuesday I tackled the garage (should be read with a sense of impending doom).  K (aunt) helped sort through things that I moved inside and placed in keep and sell piles.  After she tired out for the day, I kept up the momentum.  This garage didn't know what hit it.  

Before: 

You can't see everything crammed in this small nook. 

Understand the impending doom now? 

So, are you ready? The picture after day one looks amazing to me, but it may not be as impressive to you.  Most of the day was spent sorting, so I didn't have a lot of time to go through the garage myself. 

You can definitely see we got some work done, but there is still a lot of Stuff! 

OKAY! This is it.... I'm really proud of this, so keep all criticisms to yo-self! If it weren't for the same basic structures, this garage would look like a completely different house!  

Yeah, that's right.  I'm amazing! All in a day's work. Literally.  Not to mention, all that stuff still on the shelves back there is trash! 

I really can't believe how quickly this has gone.  It would go even faster if I could make the keep vs. sell decisions... but I guess I have to delegate somewhere right? Hehe.  

Check back soon for another house cleaning purging scouring expunging update! (I think that conveys the epic-ness of my awesome-ness!) 

Summer: The Season of Doing

Wow! I can't believe how fast this month has passed.  So much has happened!  Summer weather finally hit the Puget Sound and the citizens came out of their caves homes.  L and I have enjoyed spending time with friends and discovering new places.  Thankfully I managed to do all of this without letting my grades slip.  So, I'm going to attempt a quick update on all the goings on in the life of Britt.

Disclaimer: These events are not even remotely in chronological order.  I thought about ordering them for you but then I realized I'm too lazy busy to attempt something that of that magnitude.

(1) I both started and finished the t.v. series Bones.  Well, not finished technically.  The t.v. show is still on the air, but I watched all 6 seasons available on Netflix.  Definitely got my 9 dollars worth this month. Considering my job aspirations, it's ridiculous that I haven't seen this show before!

(2) At the beginning of July, L and I went on a hike with our new friends.  They took us to Discovery Park in Seattle.  It was kind such a beautiful park, sitting right in the middle of downtown Seattle.  We were driving though busy Seattle streets and sort of just ran into the park.  The hike was great, but it served as a reminder to both L and I how badly we need to get into shape.

(3) L and I saw the new Spiderman movie.  I will say that it was definitely better than the Toby Maguire versions, but I'm not sure how much I really liked it.  Great action and well shot, but maybe I'm just not that into the Spiderman story?  L said he wasn't that much of a fan either, yet agreed it was better than the recent trilogy.  

(4) We also saw The Dark Knight Rises.  If you haven't heard about the tragedy surrounding this movie, then do a google search and pray for the victims and their families.  Also, pray for the offender and his family, something must have been very wrong for him to do something like that.  That being said, the movie was as good as I thought it would be.  Better. Phenomenal.  It definitely had a different focus than the last two movies, but excellent nonetheless.  I just love the backstory found in these movies.

(5) I finally finished painting the table!  I picked a leaf design to match the fabric on the chairs and found a perfect color match at Sherwin Williams.  I'm happy with it! 

(6) I also painted/drew two wall hangings for L's apartment.  The flower one didn't turn out as well as I wanted, but the optical illusion was well worth the effort!  

(7) I made the decision to stop doing traditional scrap-booking.  I am switching to Blurb books.  You can visit their website to see what it's all about.  I have already designed a 250 page book with pictures from my college years.  I really enjoy the ease with which I was able to create my book.  Not to mention, the whole book will only cost 70 dollars.  That's significantly less that I would have spent making the book traditionally.  

(8) On the 4th of July, L and I went to a bbq at our friends' place out in the country.  I was astounded at the fireworks sold to the public out here! Absolutely amazing stuff!  Someone also bought an American Flag floating lantern.  I felt a swell of pride when I watched it float into the night. 

(9) I finished 2 novels this month.  One was the second book in a series by Richelle Mead. The Golden Lily is about an Alchemist who cleans up after the vampires she is trying to hide from the world.  It was really a great read.  The other novel was the first in a series by Lauren Oliver.  I was told this book was similar to Hunger Games, so I thought I would give it a try.  Delirium was such a great novel about a world without love (amor deliria nervosa).  I would suggest both to anyone who enjoys fantasy/sci-fi novels.  Note: If you are going to read The Golden Lily, read the Vampire Academy series first, it is kind of lengthy, but definitely worth it.  

(10) Discovered a Hawaiian BBQ restaurant.  It was delicious.  Nothing more needs to be said.  So good!

(11) Had another cookout with friends. This weather is just amazing.  And it's the perfect temperature at night!  Our hosts started a fire and it felt like we were camping!  Notice the blue and green flames pictured below.  I can't wait to find some of the coated pine-cones our hosts used to do that! 

(12) I was diagnosed with trigger finger.  I got it from typing too much.  I thought it was a valid excuse to stop doing schoolwork, the professors didn't buy it though.  Now every time I write a paper (or a blog) I have to ice my finger! Ugh!  I guess it's better than a ruptured tendon! 

(13) L and I bought our wedding rings.  No, we aren't engaged.  L hasn't met my parents yet, so until that happens (November can't come fast enough), we will remain boyfriend/girlfriend.  However, the second he proposes, I'm gonna stop calling him Ludwig and just refer to him as fiance.  Serves him right for making me wait so long!  Back on track, we got matching titanium rings.  Thankfully I can wear titanium (even with my allergy) so we don't have to resort to platinum.  

(14) We discovered a park in Mukilteo by the lighthouse.  L and I rode our bikes down there after watching Spiderman (I told you these posts weren't in order).  We watched a beautiful sunset and just sat and talked.  It's really refreshing to slow down and just BE with L sometimes.  

(15) L and I went to a Mariner's game with some friends.  The game was actually quite exciting, I actually jumped and shouted when the Mariner's made the winning run in OT.  We had nosebleed seats but the experience was well worth it!  Especially because it was L's first baseball game! 

(16) My nephew was born!!!  June 28, 2012!  So happy for my sister and brother-in-law!  I can't wait to meet my nephew in November! L and I went out that night to celebrate!!! 

(17) This. 

That's it all I want to post for now.  Next month won't be AS eventful, but I will be posting updates about my aunt and uncle's house purge.  I will be spending the better part of August in Portland helping them get rid of some lots of their stuff! 

Thanks for reading!