DIY

I've always wanted to make our apartment a home, but I refuse to pay to upgrade a temporary living situation. I'm not going to pay for furniture (more expensive than IKEA or Target). I'm not going to install custom window treatments. I'm not even willing to pay for paint (although I AM getting sick of looking at these ugly "eggshell white" walls). And upgrading the lighting fixtures? No way.

But I don't want to live in an ugly apartment either. So I've taken to DIY-ing a few things that aren't expensive, and that make our place a little sweeter.

Since it's my job to make art all day, it's not exactly difficult for me to create some sweet one of a kind pieces for our home. We already own a TON of art. BF collects rare movie posters (that cost quite an arm and a leg) and he's amassed quite a valuable collection). And although they ARE cool, they're not totally my style. So I've claimed the kitchen as my art zone. With cheapo IKEA frames, I can use my large format home printer and get awesome results for only a few hours work. Score. And I think they look awesome.

We also have big plans for our bed. After finding this amazing headboard from West Elm (uh, 400 dollars amazing), I decided that because it was so simple, there MUST be a way we could DIY. Low and behold, I found the plans online to make the exact same one. And we can totally do it in our apartment. With nothing more than a drill (Lowe's will cut boards to size for pennies). We scoped it out today, and it will cost about 50-60 dollars for the materials. We're totally doing it… after we save the cash. Yes. We're doing it the grown up way. And yes, I absolutely wished I could just go to West Elm and buy it today. But… life just doesn't work that way, does it?

I'm totally excited though! It will be awesome to have a defined bed. And with a few throw pillows, it could be amazing. Yes, I DO wish I had a sewing machine. Although I guess I could hand sew them, but I'm not sure if I have the patience for such an endeavor…

The point is though. You don't HAVE to spend a ton of money to make your place feel a little more grown up.

Looking Up!

So we're down to one credit card with a balance. It's a relief, but I feel like it will never get paid off. Depressing. What makes it so high is that the traffic ticket I got in May (which I still think is COMPLETE BULL) finally had to be charged. I tried to get out of it, they were assholes, and I had to pay TWICE AS MUCH to do traffic school so the point wouldn't affect my insurance. Again. Bullshit. Anyway, I passed traffic school (thankfully I could do it online), and I'm done. I swear to god, the system is so F-ed up. I was treated like a criminal for making a left hand turn. Where the sign was NOT visible. When it was literally, the first time I'd EVER driven on that street. Ever. Complete crap. Rant over.

But in AMAZING news!? I got a raise!! It was a complete surprise too… my boss randomly called me into the office yesterday and said that they were giving me a raise of 4200/year. And that I deserved way more, but it was all they could afford at the time. Sweeeet! I was told that I was the only one getting one, and that as soon as they could I would be getting at least a 10k raise on top of it!! Of course, I don't expect that to happen for a while, but it was so nice to hear. I'm happy! Sadly I have to wait two weeks to see exactly how much the raise will work out to be in my paychecks with taxes and all. Needless to say, I'm putting every extra cent above and beyond my current check and putting it towards the credit card. No ifs ands, or buts.

And boyfriend has been getting steady work as a freelancer! This is great :-) He's already had several jobs since January, and the promise of many more. By the end of this series of jobs, he'll have made about 5k! Obviously the checks will take a while to roll in, and they come in increments, but it's exciting! We're so close to being able to put those in savings, and it will be awesome. And he's *thisclose* (one job away) to being eligible for the WGA. Which is triple amazing.

I have yet to file my taxes… which I should do this weekend. I'll be getting only about 250 back, which is better than owing I suppose. It's going right to the credit card.

Oh, and I did slip and buy a groupon for an unlimited month of yoga at a super high end studio. It's seriously the best 30 bucks I've ever spent. Unless you think about the fact that now I want to do it EVERY month, which at 80 bucks, is not exactly happening. Suck. Fest.