The Quack Challenge

I decided to go a little old school Disney this week.

Any guesses? I was going for...

...Donald Duck! So far, I don't think Amiee or I have done any classic Disney. Hopefully, we'll be able to bring in some more of the classic Disney characters. I remember really enjoying a series of short Disney videotapes when I was a kid. All of the VHS cases were different jewel-toned colors and I liked to line them up and enjoy the colors on the shelf.

Character: Donald Duck

Outfit:
*Striped shirt is a hand-me-down of Amiee's.
*Orange scarf is from about 8 or so years ago. I'm not even sure I remember where I got it...

Disneybound inspiration board:

Again, this outfit isn't quite as wacky as the inspiration board, but I got the primary pieces taken care of. Here's hoping I don't get so behind on outfits again any time soon!

Images from here and here.

Much like my life in Europe...

...is my life in Boston. Remember all the tales I told from my time in Ukraine? Tales about buses and walking a lot and carrying my groceries? I remember those days. And, now that I'm in Boston, those days are back in action (to a certain extent).

Brad and I made the decision not to bring our cars to Boston. MUCH discussion went into that decision, and we think it was a wise one. At least for now. The public transit system in Boston is very good, and having a car is rather a hassle. Our apartment is very conveniently located SO CLOSE to three different train lines and a bus stop. Don't get me wrong- we still walk to get to all of these stops, but they're relatively close. A few blocks, tops. The best part, in my totally-grown-up opinion, is the fact that our fare cards can be zipped up in our wallets, and the scanner will still read them. I just flip my Vera Bradley wristlet against the scanner and it pings me in. Fun Boston Fact: the transit system is called the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority (MBTA), or, more commonly, the T. Fun Boston Fact #2: the permanent fare cards are called Charlie cards.

There are several major train lines that run through Boston; they are labeled by colors (red, blue, green, orange, and silver). The only one that runs our direction is the green line, but 3 different branches of the green line (B, C, and D) come this way, meaning we can take any of them to get home. The B line actually runs right next to us. So, there's a nice element of convenience.

However, doing things like grocery shopping aren't always the most convenient. Our grocery store takes us a few blocks of walking plus 3 train stops to get to. It's not bad on the way there, but things look infinitely different when you're loaded down with grocery bags on the way back. I think I blogged a few times in Ukraine about how you really only buy what you can carry, as opposed to getting everything you want all at one time. If Brad and I go together, we can get quite a bit accomplished, but it's not the same as getting everything you want and loading it into the car. Today, for example, Brad had two large reusable bags (because that's what you do here) plus one plastic bag from the store, and I had a large reusable bag, a small reusable bag, and a plastic bag from the store. Riding the train with it wasn't too difficult, but walking the 3 or so blocks back home (on a slight incline) wasn't too fun.

The upside of it all is that we live in Boston, which is cool no matter who you are. And, we get more exercise out of necessity.

The May-the-odds-be-ever-in-your-favor Challenge

Since I'm still playing catch-up with my characters, this is the outfit for last week. On Friday, I'll post this week's outfit and will finally be caught up. Also, I realize that this is not a Disney outfit, BUT Disneybound did do a board for this character. I had a *similar* dress, so I went for it. 

If you haven't read the books (or seen the movie), then the title probably did not give it away. And my outfit probably didn't either. I was going for a variation of:

Effie Trinket. That eccentric and affected gal who escorts the tributes from District 12.

Am I still not making any sense?

Character: Effie Trinket from The Hunger Games

Outfit:
*Dress was one of Amiee's that she cast away. I altered it a bit to fit me better.
*Headband was actually a sash from a wedding I was in a while ago. My mom made it.
*Belt was a hand-me-down from a relative. 
Huh...I did not purchase anything for this outfit! That may be a first.

Disneybound inspiration board:

I realize that this outfit is way wackier than mine, but I did get the colors. That counts, right? I think Brad was happy that I went with a pink hair ribbon rather than go all out and dye my hair. Just a guess...

Images from here and here.

Wireless.

We’ve been at it again; getting rid of those wretched wires. Our first cover-up was super simple (we moved the doorbell box). Then we tackled two slightly more involved options- one of which we love and one of which we’re still deciding on. The last one was a stroke of pure genius on my part (if I do say so myself) and was the least work of all.

These little guys:

were the next ones dealt with. We inherited a set of three prints that look like they’re from Kirkland’s or somewhere similar. They’re really nice; maybe not exactly our style but definitely classy enough to grace our walls for now. And in all honesty, finding solutions that fit us “for now” is pretty much what we’re going for. We realize that we’ll definitely continue moving things around and switching things up until they’re more “us,” but for now, we’re happy just having things out of boxes and looking a little more home-y.

Back to the wires: we pulled out our maps-and-trees art work and strategically hung them, resulting in:

We let out a huge (and perhaps dramatic) sigh of relief. It made our hearts happy, and we still occasionally find ourselves (ok, mostly me) staring at the lack of wires. Ahh…

Next up were these guys:

Maybe the ugliest of the bunch. We played around with a lot of options. We started with these classy paper place holders:

We moved them around a few times to find an arrangement that we might like (you’ll notice that we were also dealing with a thermostat box). We tried this at first:

We left it for a day and decided we didn’t like it. We thought the frames around the Union prints were a little too chunky. We traded them out for these:

That’s what we have going on right now. Jury’s still out.

Last but most certainly best was this wire by the edge of our circular mirror (we tucked it into its self a bit):

It started out a little less obtrusively; it was pretty small. I stared at it for a good long while and came up with this solution:

Victory is so sweet.

All of the wires are officially covered, and three out of four coverings are staying for a while. Whew!

The Feather Dusting Challenge

I'm woefully behind in character updates. If you're reading this on Monday, August 27, this update is from 2 weeks ago. And...due to my lack of creativity in the title, you probably won't have difficulty in guessing this character:

If you aren't up on your Disney, then allow me to explain:

I was going for Babette, the feather duster!

Character: Babette from Beauty and the Beast

Outfit: 
*Top is from NY & Co. 2010. You may remember it from my days as Captain Hook.
*Black skirt is still the one from high school: Old Navy, 2000.
*Belt was a gift from my mom after Christmas 2011.
*Feather duster is from FlyLady, I think.

Disneybound inspiration board:

I had fun with this one! I think I got pretty close on it, too. Minus the crazy skirt... Stay tuned for more of the catch-up game!

Images from here and here.

A couple quick updates.

Much like my (fake but I like to pretend that I know them) friends over at Young House Love, Brad and I are definitely taking the "live with it for a while until you know if you like it" approach to getting our apartment decorated and situated. Two small things that we accomplished this week were covering up one of the sets of wires and filling up the space above the toilet.

Firstly, we found out what all of the random wires are supposed to be for: mounted speakers. Huh. Who knew? However, since we're not planning to acquire mounted speakers, we're putting on our thinking caps for how to cover things up. I was sitting on the couch the other day, looking at our four (4) sets of dangling wires and came up with a solution for one of them. This one, in fact:

The solution? Move the door bell (we had to purchase and install one) from one side of the front door to right over the wires. So easy. And, so much easier on the eyes.

Stay tuned for an update on what things look like once Brad gets a Magic Eraser to this spot. He's a whiz with those things.

Secondly, I've shown pictures of the toilet nook before...although I was primarily focused on the outlet over the toilet and the full-length mirror across from the toilet. Brad and I had been talking about perhaps getting an over-the-toilet cabinet option, but nothing was satisfying both our aesthetic preferences or our budgetary allotment. So, I turned to Pinterest and found this option. So, using our Bed, Bath, and Beyond gift cards and a couple of coupons, we rigged up our own solution. We may change it up again after living with it for a while, but we're pretty happy with it for the moment. It fills up the space over the toilet and creates a bit more room in the linen closet. Double win.

There will be more changes to come (like perhaps finding a way to hide the cords in the bathroom...which go to the lamp on the back of the toilet and to a small fan). We'll keep you posted! 

Also, character outfits to come.

Quirks

Our new little home sweet home is such a blessing in our lives. Truly. We got such a great deal of an apartment, and we love it. 

However.

It is very quirky. 

I know I've already done a picture tour of the apartment, but this time, I thought I'd do a little Tour of Quirkiness. The ultimate goal is to modify these quirks so that they're, how shall we say, less quirky. And make them a little more normal. Some of these shots are pictures you've seen, but we're going to look at them with a critical eye today.

Obviously, the primary quirk is the large tv nook covered in foam. Can you spot two other quirks? Can ya?

Here's a closer shot of one of them...See the random wires? Yep. We have a lot of those.

See the other one? To the left of the mirrored door. We actually got one of those little tester things to see if the wires are live. Surprisingly, they're not. They're just hanging out... Note the mirror, too. We have a lot of those. Two full-length. You'll see the other in a minute.

Here's another mirror...and another hangy wire. See it to the left of the mirror? 

Ok, this one might not be overly obvious. Look up...see those box-y shapes coming out of the ceiling? We have this crazy labyrinth of shapes coming out of the ceiling. Also, any friends of our too much over 6 feet will need to duck. Or wear a helmet.

I took this one from the couch, in an attempt to demonstrate the ceiling weirdness. There are about five different ceiling heights between the couch and the bathroom.

This one is pretty self explanatory. We do have a bookcase in the hallway now. I'll try to get a shot of it sometime soon.

This should also be self-explanatory. We have plans. Big plans.

In our back/guest room (which is sound-proof), we have all kinds of architectural craziness to work around. On the left, we have boards sticking out in a sideways pyramid formation. On the right (and around the rest of the room), we have a padded upholstery. Oh, and there's a weight-bearing column in the middle of the room. With a floor to ceiling wooden "pyramid" sticking out about 6 inches. Not even kidding.

This is the closet in the back/guest room. If you visit, don't read the "graffiti"- it's not all very nice...

See the quirk here? No? Here's a prompt: want to dry your hair while taking care of business? You totally can. Just reach up and plug the dryer in, friends.

Even better...You can check out how your styling is going because our second full-length mirror is directly across from the toilet. So classy.

This is our dehumidifying friend. It's wonderful. Our apartment is apparently very humid. This sucker fills up to capacity in less than 24 hours. 

There you have it. Plenty of room for us to stretch our imaginations and creativity. I'll keep you posted.

The Fishy Challenge

I'm probably the only person in America who wasn't impressed by the movie this character is from. I attribute part of that to the fact that I was out of the country when the movie came out. When I returned, everyone was raving that it was the BEST Disney movie ever made...and I think that had my expectations too high. When I watched it, I kept thinking, "When is this going to turn into the best Disney movie of all time?" It didn't. At least not for me. Don't get me wrong- it's cute. It's just not- in my opinion- the best one ever.

All that to say, here's my character:

I was going for:

Nemo. The fish with unbalanced fins. Bless him.

Character: Nemo from Finding Nemo.

Outfit:
*Orange top from Ross...either 2010 or 2011. Probably 2011.
*Black skirt from Old Navy circa 2000.
*Black belt from many moons ago. I don't even remember when or from where. I had it in college. That I know.
*Leaf (if you squint, they could look like coral/sea fans) earrings are from Dress Barn 2010.

Disneybound inspiration board:

I hope everyone can still be friends with me after confessing my thoughts on Nemo...please?

Images from here and here.

The Patriotic Challenge

This is actually last week's character...so sorry for running behind!

As the Olympics have been going strong and the US has been represented so well, it seemed fitting to do a little patriotic tribute. Now, I realize that this character is not Disney. However, Disneybound did create an outfit for him, so I think we all recognize him as a great character.

I think my dad will appreciate this one. I was going for his favorite superhero:

Captain America! How great was The Avengers, by the way? I saw it twice in the theater. I didn't have a trash can lid-shield, so I had to settle for a stock pot lid. Do what you have to do, right?

Character: Captain America

Outfit:
*Navy, "star-spangled" top from Ross 2010.
*Red earrings from Ukraine 2009.
*Shield from the pots and pans cabinet.

Disneybound (loosely speaking) inspiration board:

Sorry for playing catch-up! I'm working on it...Thanks for hanging in there!

Images from here and here.

House Tour: Pre-Anything

Because our travel plans to Boston had Brad and Dad arriving at the apartment several hours before Mom, Amiee, and I were scheduled to arrive, I had Brad promise me very truly that he would take very thorough pictures of the apartment before we filled it up with all of our stuff. Because the apartment is rather quirky and, in many ways, not very "us," we really want to be able to document the changes we make. Or, at least I do. Brad just played along and took the pictures.

Welcome! Our living room is partially octagonally-shaped, thus all the various stretches of wall. This window next to the front door is one of 3 windows in the apartment that doesn't occlude the light coming in.

This is the padded tv nook next to the front window. Seriously- it's padded with this sort of egg-crate foam stuff. The owner's son was in recording, so there are lots of little quirks all over the place.

See that mirrored door next to the padded tv nook? That, my friends, is a closet that we completely forgot about when we first saw the apartment in May. <Squeals in delight!> Extra storage space in Boston is like finding gold.

This shot was taken while standing in front of the front window (padded tv nook and like-finding-gold closet are to the left). Built-in bookcase. Score.

To the right of the built-in bookcase. That mirror came with the apartment, and the window-type thing above the heater is one of several windows that is really opaque and cemented in. Gives off a sort of murky glow- from the sun or the street light.

Hi, Dad.

Stepping into the kitchen area, we have the table nook, a utility closet (with LOADS more space than we remembered), cabinets, and a microwave left by the previous tenet. 

Another shot of the kitchen/close-up of the built-in bookcase.

Hands-down best kitchen we saw in all of the apartments we looked at in May. Isn't it fancy? Above the sink is regular window #2.

Close up of the microwave.

Standing the hallway, looking back into the kitchen. Not pictured: the pantry. Very small, but very handy.

Toilet half of the bathroom.

Shower half of the bathroom- with a gratuitous shower curtain and liner. That was especially handy until we found our curtain.

Sink part of the bathroom. Not pictured: linen closet to the left of the sink.

Hallway nook right outside of the bathroom. Another murky window.

Hallway. Rock wall. You know...that's how we roll.

Bedroom. Paneled wall.

Bedroom closet and odd shapes built into the wall.

Back, sound-proof room. Bonus: built-in desk.

Shot of the door to the basement/laundry area.

Continuation of the soundproof room. Isn't it...interesting?

More to come!