Gel Clings!

I absolutely love decorating! Some people could truly care less about the interior design of their environments, but I am the exact opposite. A house does not feel like home until I have hung pictures, and I love adding extra garlands and center pieces to match whatever holiday is next on the calendar.

My favorite holidays to decorate for are:
- Christmas
- Fall
- Halloween
- St. Patty’s
- 4th of July
- International Speak like a Pirate Day (yes, this is a real holiday!)

My decorating addiction does not stop at my house. Cubical furnishings are also a passion of mine. My work desk is tastefully scattered with pictures, calendars, magnets, and a few pins and trinkets. When I started at my current company, I actually spent hours online searching and ordering a special Totoro pencil holder. :)


While I have built up a collection of holiday décor for my home, it can be tricky to maintain your cubical decorations. First of all, you have no storage space to keep everything when you are not using it. Secondly, some of your cubical mates may not appreciate your festive spirit. Too meet these restraints, as well as keep a low budget, I have adopted the use of gel clings.

Gel clings are inexpensive pieces of plastic that will stick to almost any surface without additional adhesive. They are easy to find, delightfully inexpensive, and quick to put up and take down. Since they are usually only a couple dollars a package, you will not feel guilty throwing them away after the holiday has passed. I have also noticed that my cubical mates to not seem to have any problems with me putting them up. In fact, they love to come over and poke at the strange jello-like shapes. LOL

You can find gel clings at a variety of stores. My go-to places are usually Walmart or Michaels. More varieties can be found online, but those tend to be a few dollars more expensive.

Today, I just put up my St. Patty’s Day gel clings, and I think they are really fun!


Have fun decorating!!

Let’s Get Together, yeah, yeah, yeah…

Wow, was President’s Day weekend a busy one! Sitting at my new dining room table, my eyes keep wandering to the enormous bookcase in the living room, and the song “Let’s Get Together” starts echoing through my head. If you do not remember this song, it is from the movie The Parent Trap – the Hailey Mills version, not the horrid 90’s remake.

To give you some context on why a bookshelf reminds me of a Hailey Mills song, it is because Dan moved in this weekend! Hurray!! No more four hour trips to and from Richmond! (No offense to all my friends and new family down there, but I am sure you all understand the joy of being closer to your boyfriend/girlfriend.)

The biggest part of the move took place on Saturday. Luckly, Dan and I had been bringing boxes up during our visits for the last month, so all that remained were big pieces of furniture and the odd and ends. With a little extra help from my dad and Dan’s parents, everything was inside the townhouse in under an hour. :D

With the move complete, we spent the rest of the weekend unpacking and organizing. For two people with very different design styles, our belongings mix very well. The living room bookcase is one example. With a little patience and endless chanting of the alphabet, Dan and I managed to combine our DVD collections and fill five of the bookcase’s six shelves. That’s a lot of DVDs, right?! The other incredible thing is that on those five shelves, there is not a single duplicate movie. (Heehee… I think we have a lot of movies.)


Looking at that bookshelf covered in DVDs, I cannot help but smile while the lyrics “Let’s get together. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Why don’t you and I combi-ine.” play through my head. I am delighted and fortunate to have a boyfriend who is happy to combine his styles with mine.

“Let's get together, yeah yeah yeah. Two is twice as nice as one. Let's get together, right away. We'll be having twice the fun…”


If you want to see a clip of the song, check out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxtyAC59AeE.

Carytown Cupcakes

One of my favorite things to do in Richmond is walk around Carytown. Not only is it filled with tons of fun shops, you can always find something or someone of interest there. Nestled on a side street is an audacious little shop called Carytown Cupcakes.

This gourmet bakery makes some of the best cupcakes I have ever had, and I am not a big cupcake or cake enthusiast. I will not gush over how every cupcake is delicious, because there are a few that I do not like. However, their red velvet cupcake is truly to-die-for.

Here is a list of the other Carytown Cupcake flavors that I love:
- Hummingbird
- Carrot
- Dirt
- Apple
- Oreo
- Samoa
- Raspberry Champagne

If you live in, or are traveling through, Richmond, you simply must visit this shop. If you are on a tight budget, keep your eyes open on Living Social, because they post half-off coupons from time to time. Then you can bring home a box of goodies, like the ones below:


(left to right cupcake flavors: first row - dirt, hummingbird, and apple. second row - chocolate, smores, and carrot.)

Rubber

There exists a very strange movie called Rubber. Have any of you seen it? It really does exist. Dan had me watch it recently, and I am still confused about my feelings for the film. My first impression was that the movie encourages stalking, mass murder, and obsession – and yet I felt compelled to watch it until the end.

Rubber is about a tire named Robert. Yes, I said a tire – as in the circular objects which your car rolls around on. This specific tire has the ability to be “alive” and move around of its own accord. This is already sounding strange, right? It gets stranger, just wait.

Robert the tire is obsessed with a beautiful young woman and is following her, while a group of random people follow/watch Robert from a distance. As he is stalking the woman, Robert learns that he has telepathic powers that enable him to blow things up, including any human or animal that annoys him. (This is where the mass murder comes in) Eventually, someone starts noticing all the dead beings, and the cops are called. What happens after this is really too bizarre to attempt describing, so you will just have to watch it for yourself to find out the ending. That’s what I had to do. :)

My expression throughout the movie went from being:

To the look a dog gives you when they see something strange:

I cannot recommend this movie, because it was too weird. However, I will say that you will experience some very unique emotions while you watch it, and afterwards, you will not exactly regret watching it.

Happy Viewing!