Monday, July 20, 2015

Once More Into the Breach

Back to Work--Monday, 7/20/15

Focal item: Aqua striped dress

Coming back from a vacation week, I need something festive.

Stripes with floral print continue to make me smile.  This one is so cheerful and fun.

From thissillygirlslife.com

Here is my blue/teal/aqua take on this combination, using a floral-esque paisley print.  And yep, I'm wearing this cardigan with stripes and the aqua scarf again.  What can I say?  It's a winner.  I also love the way the stripes on the dress curve on the bottom half--it's a nice change from the standard horizontal stripes and adds a certain softness to the look that I appreciate.


*Aqua/white striped sleeveless dress (Old Navy), $15.00/wear+
Dark blue/aqua paisley cardigan (Coldwater Creek), $7.00/wear
Aqua infinity scarf (Target), $5.85/wear
*Chambray flats (Payless), $16.99/wear+

It could be argued that I really didn't need another pair of blue flats but give me a break--they were on sale and they're chambray.  I haven't yet purchased even a single genuine chambray button up shirt (and that's a necessity for any fashion blogger--this woman owns about 10 of them, for example) so at least let me enjoy the shoes.  Because enjoying the shoes is a thing I do.


This is how scarily over-stuffed my closet was in March, before I did my big clean-out that resulted in a full shopping cart full of items that we donated to Goodwill.  It looks a little bit less crazy now (a little).


In other news...I enjoyed this article critiquing the "you can be anything/follow your dream" platitudes we give kids.  Sorry, you can't actually be a dinosaur.

Debbie recently talked about the five things she liked best about her home.  Here are mine.

1.  I don't own it.  I love living in a rental property.  I have heard the arguments that it's less economical long-term than owning your own house, but I am still at a point in my life where I don't want to be tied down to any one spot or in the position of trying to sell in a bad market, etc. 

2.  The property management company is good.  So I don't have the downsides of a bad landlord to deal with.  The property is well-maintained and Robert and I aren't having to do all that work (yard work, shoveling snow, and that kind of routine work as well as the big stuff).

3.  It's a pretty big place.  We have over 1500 square feet of space, with a particularly generous living room and good storage space (e.g., we didn't have to add the racks to that closet pictured above; it came with a good installation).  It's roomy but not too much to deal with. 

4.  The location is great.  I am a 5 minute drive from work and right next to the river (which is the most significant river in the country--the river, you know, not just any river).  I am crazy about watching the various boats (everything from canoes to motorboats to sightseeing riverboats to huge tugboats) plying the river.  I also like the chance to see eagles, ducks, etc., working the river.

5.  It has a good floor plan.  Robert has sold me on the virtues of a more open floor plan, and the flow of the living room, dining room, and kitchen is very good in this apartment.  Also, I am thrilled to no longer be in a condo with two floors. 

My other favorite thing is less about the apartment itself than what we decided to do with it, but it has been a game-changer:  Hiring a cleaning service to do most of the housework.  (And having a Robert to do most of the rest.)

What are your top 5 favorite things about your place?

7 comments:

Tam said...

1. It is cheap.

2. It is next to campus.

3. I sort of like our tile-ish floors. We have a big and mostly useless expanse of them.

4. Our kitchen is really super for an apartment kitchen - large, and with good appliances that were new when we moved in.

5. The benign neglect of our apartment management company. 4 years after our original lease expired they finally asked us to sign a new one.

Sally said...

Price and location are winners, esp. as a student. I agree that your kitchen seems good-sized relative to your overall apartment size. As for the lease--hah.

Debbie said...

Fun! Thanks for playing!

jen said...

1. It's pretty cheap, which allows us to save for a down payment.
2. It's only a 10-min drive to our favorite dog park.
3. It's close to Rick's work (at least one of us can be close by).
4. We have a quiet view of trees and a small lake.
5. See point 1 :)

Sally said...

Debbie--thanks for giving me something interesting to think and write about!

Jen--cheap so you can save for a down payment is excellent; that could have been reasons 1-5 by itself. Glad your place has some other good qualities too :)

mom said...

1. It's paid for.
2. It's paid for.
3. It's Paid for.
4. It's paid for.
5. It's paid for.

Sally said...

Mom, I am starting to get an inkling of a theme here...