Shih Tzus and Syringes: Nursing was not my first career choice...

If I could choose any career if would be house wife and stay at home mom who coaches cheerleading for fun. Nursing will be amazing but there is 50% chance nursing school will kill me first.

When I’m not studying, I love to decorate my apartment, shop and craft. Mostly shop though. I’m a bargain shopper, I love finding a sale or something on clearance and trying to find some way to alter that item to make it work with my decor.

My apartment is always a work in progress and I’m never really satisfied with it but I thought I would share some for our move-in photos and some of my latest deals I’m really happy with. Then I can have something to post about besides how much my life sucks and how much I hate nursing school.

Move-in 12/28/11: The day from hell
Who decides to move 3 days after Christmas and one day after returning from Colorado? My boyfriend, that’s who. Luckily, there was no snow on the ground. We survived the move but he learned how much shit I owned when we had to move it out of my third floor walk-up apt mostly by ourselves after my friend Kelsey had to go to work. That’s why I suggested hiring someone to do it!

Kitchen/Dining Area

Living/Dining Room Area

Master Bedroom

MY closet that I don’t have to share!

Master bath

Laundry Room

Guest Bath

Old guest room which is now my roommate Sophie’s room

Sophie’s massive walk-in closet

Carver’s patio and yard space

Those are all the move-in photos. A ton has changed since then. I have redecorated the entire place. Luckily it was already painted in a color I like because the ceilings are way too high for me to force Sean to tackle a paint job like this. :)

I finally made some thrifty hurricanes like Katelyn’s at A Wife’s Life, you can see her adorable fall display here or how to make a burlap banner here. We both borrowed Chelsea’s tutorial at Two Twenty One for her Thrifty Hurricanes. I’m a blogaholic.

Before: I purchased my candle sticks from Hobby Lobby because they were 50% off and I happened to be there. Plus I wanted mine to look a little different from Katelyn’s and anyone else who made them, I like to be different! Plus I feel like I do my part to keep Hobby Lobby successful in business. I bought the glass vases from the dollar tree on the east side of Des Moines, the store in West Des Moines didn’t carry them so I had to make the journey to the East side for the the sake of crafts. I got the E6000 from Hobby Lobby as well.

After: I added a few Halloween touches and fake candles because the vases are too narrow for pillar candles and to add decorations around them but haven’t gotten too carried away with them yet. I do love them though!

My new favorite things: We decided to replace Sean’s useless craigslist dresser with two bookshelves we can actually use in our bedroom. They were on sale at Target and although they still need to be jazzed up, I think they look pretty nice. Much better than his tiny dresser that he just threw stuff on.

While at Target I also found a bookshelf on clearance for $40! I love the look of these leaning bookshelves but didn’t want one that had to actually lean against my wall so this worked out perfectly. Plus Sean wants to move all of his TV components down from the TV nook so we can use the fireplace this winter and not worry about everything melting. I think I am obsessed with displaying things. And colored glass from Hobby Lobby….especially when it is 50% off!