A walk on the beach

After a day inside, I decided I needed some fresh air yesterday. So, I combined my grocery shopping trip with a walk on my favorite beach. (This is the same beach where my lobsterization occurred last year. Read all about it in last July's "Lobsterized - a new word" )

It was a lovely sunny late January day, in the mid-60's with just the slightest of breezes. (Reason #587 why I love living in Northern California!) The beach was fairly empty but along the 2 mile beach I came across children playing, jumping in the shallow water, giggling, families building sand castles, flying kites, walking their dogs and riding their bikes along the shoreline. It was an overall pleasant day to spend walking in the fresh air.

Here is where I was:

The home improvements continue

Today, I wasn't feeling too well so I decided to skip my day's planned outings and stay at home. However, I also didn't feel like just sitting around, watching movies or reading. So I decided to tackle a project I've been wanting to complete (well, technically I've been wanting to start it and then complete it but you get what I'm saying).

Several things happened to get me to this place.
1. My kitchen has yellow tiles on the counter tops and teal/aqua/turquoise (what's the difference, really?) accents. It's super cute but I have very little counter space so when I moved in I got additional cabinets. I'm not crazy about them because they're open all around. Here's a pic of the kitchen. (Cabinets are not seen in this shot.)


2. Several months ago I found some cute fabric online at spoonflower.com (check it out for custom printed fabric and fun craft ideas!). It's turquoise with yellow dots. I supplemented it with some plain yellow fabric.


3. When I was at Ikea recently to pick up some the rug for my new home office (see home office post), I saw a nifty idea for hanging curtains that I decided to adapt for my kitchen cabinets.


4. I have a functioning sewing machine again!! A 30-year old Bernina that was in desperate need of being taken for a test run. (Thanks again for a great Christmas gift Mom!)



And that, my friends brings us to the project of today: making curtains for my kitchen cabinets.




And for the full effect: Before and After

new home office

I realized recently that sitting at my dining room table for hours and hours every day was not great for being productive with my work, and also not great for having a dining room table that is available for its intended purpose, i.e. dining. Of course, I do have an area designated as a home office and it was sweet and quaint with the old secretary from Grandma Corinne but, lets face it, I need a larger work surface than that, which is why I migrated to the dining room table.

So, with the new year and the further realization that I am in fact committed to building my own business, I decided I needed a real and functional home office. I had fun putting it all together over the weekend (with a little help from a my friend Jessie, thanks Jessie!). I had no idea how much stuff I had already accumulated so it was also a great opportunity to go through and throw out a lot of the unnecessary stuff and file things I need to keep. Overall, a very productive weekend. Here's the process:






A lot of stuff!

It still needs a bit of work (like hanging things on the walls, etc.) but it's certainly functional and coming together nicely. Take a look at the before and after:



And just in case you're wondering what happened to the secretary, it found a cozy little home in the dining room.