Gardening in High Heels

cultivate a beautiful life

Sunday Lately, 66

Sunday Lately is a weekly link up brought to you by the Blogger Tribe. Link up and see what's been happening lately!Sunday Lately is a weekly linkup hosted by the Blogger Tribe (which is being fearlessly lead by Meghan, Nicole, Katy, and myself). We e-hang out every Sunday, sharing a small glimpse into the last week of life in our own worlds. We’d love if you could join us!
This week’s themes: Planning, Loving, Reading, Wishing, Feeling

Planning

So I painted my living room this weekend and I totally don’t love it. I’m planning to jazz it up with some new curtains and some art. I already custom-made something with leftover samples. I have one wall that looks dark and sad and I may just take a paintbrush to it and see what I come up with. The rest of the room doesn’t look like an adult lives there, why should my walls be super serious?

Loving

Aside from the fact that I feel like I’m living in an Eiffel 65 song, I really do like what I created as art. I used to have records hung on the wall, but I was worried about the paint peeling off it I put them back, so I’ll find another place for them.

Custom art made from leftover paint samples for the room. Perfectly coordinates!

Reading

All the Better Homes and Gardens. Ever since I was a kid, I loved magazines like that. I used to pour over them at my grandma’s house and dream about the lovely, airy, old-but-packed-with-charm house that I’d live in some day with my 500 dogs.

Wishing

Well it’s April 3 and Mother Nature decided she didn’t like that we were feeling happy and warm and she dumped some snow on us. And I’m wishing for the warm weather to come back!

Feeling

I’m feeling all the frustration about my living room. I affectionately referred to it before as “Mexican Restaurant Yellow” but it was warm and inviting. And all of the colors in my house are warm tones. I have no idea why I thought I could dump a fish tank room into it and it would magically work.


What have you been up to lately?

House Hunters Drinking Game

I came home Tuesday night and I didn’t feel like training for the marathon, so I decided to turn on House Hunters on Netflix for background noise in the house. And I immediately sat my ass down and live-tweeted a drinking game. It just naturally lends itself to a drinking game. So many buzz words. So many ridiculous budgets. So many unreasonable expectations!

So I give you the House Hunters Drinking Game!

Watching people complain about houses you can't afford on House Hunters sucks. Turn it into a drinking game instead!

Take a drink when someone mentions or says…

  • Curb appeal
  • Open concept / open floor plan
  • Counter / cabinet space
  • Granite counter tops (or lackthereof)
  • Character / charm
  • Space for entertaining
  • Vaulted ceilings
  • “I don’t like the carpet.”
  • “Backsplash.”
  • “This closet isn’t big enough!”
  • “I’m disappointed in….”
  • “These ceilings aren’t high enough.” / “The ceilings are just too low.”
  • “It’s too small.”
  • “En suite.”
  • “I always get what I want.” / “S/he gets what s/he wants.”

Take two drinks when…

  • You see double sinks
  • The hunters get into a shower stall together

Chug when…

  • Someone loses their temper with their house hunting partner, i.e.: You can just *paint* it!!
  • Someone has an $1+ million budget

Assign a drink when…

  • Someone harps on an unreasonable expectation, i.e.: I need a 17′ x 17′ bedroom.
  • Someone mentions the budget (either over or under)
  • Someone talks about the renovations they’ll have to do

If you aren’t hammered halfway through an episode, you’re doing it wrong.

Side note: I found a fun House Hunters Drinking Game on BuzzFeed after I wrote this whole damn thing. I didn’t do too bad I guess. Also, the only time I ended up looking up a property after watching an episode was when a couple bought a firehouse. Luckily for me, they started a blog called A Fire Pole in the Dining Room. And I am in love.

What else would you add to the House Hunters Drinking Game?

**This is not sponsored/mentioned/in any way affiliated with House Hunters or HGTV nor do I condone excessive or irresponsible drinking.

Sunday Lately, 61

Sunday Lately is a weekly link up brought to you by the Blogger Tribe. Link up and see what's been happening lately!Sunday Lately is a weekly linkup hosted by the Blogger Tribe (which is being fearlessly lead by Meghan, Nicole, Katy, and myself). We e-hang out every Sunday, sharing a small glimpse into the last week of life in our own worlds. We’d love if you could join us!
This week’s themes: Planning, Loving, Reading, Wishing, Feeling

Planning

Awesome and awkward: I saw a cute little place to rent today that I absolutely love and would put down a deposit on just seconds after seeing it….and there’s someone else in line in front of me. I know, I keep complaining about this. And even wrote a pretty accurate description of how looking for a place to rent is like online dating. I’ll shut up soon.

Loving

Awesome: This cuff that I found for my aunt’s birthday from KLoRebel Art. It’s so unique and definitely her. I also got a cute print called Bubbly.

KLoRebel Art Wine Cuff

Reading

Awesome: I just finished up Big Magic (finally!) and am jumping back into where I left of re-reading Yes Please. Then on to Kayla Hollatz’s Brave Little Bones.

Wishing

Awesome and Awkward: For an apartment that is everything I want. An old building with charm, dog friendly, nice kitchen, big windows, hardwood floors, a nice bathroom. All in a safe part of town that is in my budget. Am I reaching for the stars here, people?

Feeling

Awkward: Still vertigo-y. I’m used to moving really fast and whirling all over the place. I can’t do that because if I move too fast, I literally make myself sick. I guess this is nature’s way of telling me to slow down.
Awesome: I went for a run this week for the first time in ages and I felt amazing. I so missed those endorphins.


What have you been up to lately?

Dating in the Real Estate World

It’s no secret I’m on the hunt for a new place (when something is happening in my life, it’s all I talk about; I’m a broken record that way). And my goodness, if finding a new place to live isn’t like dating, then I don’t know what it is. It takes a special listing to get the girl and Pittsburgh, lots of you are doing it wrong.

Dating and real estate don't sound like they'd be similar, but you'd be surprised as the similarities between apartment hunting and dating profiles.

First, let’s talk about your picture. If you want me to click on your listing, you best have a least one picture that isn’t blurry and was taken in the last year. And it better be a real photo of you, not the same standard “model apartment” shots that your 10 other listings have.

Oh yeah, why do you feel the need to spam us with your other listings? Can’t you just say, “Call Stephanie and ask about our other availabilities”? It seems to me that it’s harder to write 10 different listings, but whatever. It’s like Tom Haverford and his 26 profiles, only distinguishable by middle initial.

Now how about that listing title. “Charming and quiet” tells me nothing. A much more appealing headline would be, “Charming 1 bedroom apartment in quiet neighborhood.” Much better. If I feel like you’ll satisfy what I’m looking for with just a quick snapshot of what you offer, I’m much more likely to click on your listing. Who knows, I may even schedule a showing. Crazy!

Once you get into the listing, then the fun really gets going.

If you type in all caps, I’m out. I don’t want a landlord who yells at me. Ditto Every Word Being Capitalized. If you can’t figure out the English language in a grammatically correct fashion, I don’t know if we have any chance at communicating on a meaningful level.

Now, I understand, you don’t want to give it all away up front, but a little info is nice. What’s included in the rent? Do I get a parking spot? How about pets? These are standard questions that would make this process go a lot more smoothly and help you weed out the unnecessary applicants. Why waste your time showing an apartment if the girl has a cat and your building is deathly allergic to felines of any kind?

And you better not be fibbing about your square footage. What a disappointment that can turn out to be.

How’s your luck when it comes to dating in the real estate world?

 

7/100 — #100DaysBlogging

Sunday Lately, 60

Sunday Lately is a weekly link up brought to you by the Blogger Tribe. Link up and see what's been happening lately!Sunday Lately is a weekly linkup hosted by the Blogger Tribe (which is being fearlessly lead by Meghan, Nicole, Katy, and myself). We e-hang out every Sunday, sharing a small glimpse into the last week of life in our own worlds. We’d love if you could join us!
This week’s themes: Completing, Visiting, Repeating, Writing, Scheduling

 

Completing

Awkward: I’m wrapping up the time in my house. Like I mentioned last week, I don’t have to move out when my mom and stepfather moves back in, but it’s a small house and it doesn’t have rubber walls. Makes me sad to move twice in the space of a year.

Awesome: This will give me a chance to tackle some organizational things I guess!

Visiting

Awkward: I was in the hospital on Friday, so I guess you could say I was visiting the hospital this week. I’m fine, I just have problems that stemmed from that sinus infection I had at the beginning of the month. I did get to learn some fun baseball facts while I was there.

Awesome: I had a great mastermind session with a couple of friends yesterday. I volunteered my house before I knew I’d be moving and before I knew I had vertigo and couldn’t drive and it all kinda worked out. So they visited me. It was awesome.

Repeating

Awkward: Banging my head against the wall. Ugh I don’t want to move, and again, I’m not getting kicked out, but I either pack up all of my stuff, pay to store it, and live in my old, tiny bedroom that’s still painted purple from middle school or pack it up and have a little more space to myself. I’ll stop sounding like a broken record soon.

Awesome: To-do lists. I write lists when I get worked up.

Writing

Awkward: See above. Stress writing lists.

Awesome: #100DaysBlogging is a challenge that Emily Levenson came up with – writing something (anything) for 100 days in a row. Today is Day 6 for me. I’m trying to let go of judgement and needed a special topic and just write.

Scheduling

Awkward: I should get my tonsils removed, so I have to schedule the surgery soon. Yay for me.

Awesome: Marissa and Kristin and I got together on Monday just to catch up. No blog talk. It was fantastic to have a break. This new food pyramid is something that Kristin put together that we’d like to submit to the FDA.

Possible food pyramid change via My Life as a Teacup



What have you been up to lately?

6/100 — #100DaysBlogging

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