big news !!!

I have been running a mile a minute the past month, sorry I have been MIA! But it has all paid off because I have some exciting news...drum roll please....

I GOT A NEW JOB! Yay me!

I got the official offer yesterday and I said, "hell yes!" - not really, but in my mind I totally did. About the job - I will still be working at the American Library Association - I like this place, great work hours, great vacation time, great downtown location! I will be moving to the Association for Library Service to Children and I will be their NEW Awards Coordinator!

I will be coordinating their 10+ awards, scholarship, and grants, and all of their events that are held at our two conferences each year. If you are familiar with children's books or read a lot as a kid (like me - major bookworm) then the names of the Newbery Award and the Caldecott Award might sound familiar. When I was growing up books like The Giver, Shiloh, and Polar Express were given these awards and I remember loving these books so much!

This is like a dream job to have at ALA and the children's division is where I dreamed of being after my grant was over in September. I don't think I could be happier right now, I have been smiling ear to ear ever since the interview last Monday. I start full-time April 2nd! I know this is going to be challenging and I will be taking on major responsibilities, but I am sooooo READY for that! I'm a working girl through and through - so my posts might dwindle over the next few weeks but I'll try to catch up on the weekends! Thank you to Erin and Sean for pushing me to apply for this amazing job!

My crazy happy face - :)

 

ikea weekend

I am tired, tired, tired from a weekend of fixing up our apartment. We went to Ikea TWICE! Nightmare, that place just makes me dizzy. It was fun to pick out stuff with Sean but why do people think they have to bring their entire families there!?? And don't shop with a cart or you will get stuck behind a herd of super slow families of 10+! Ugh...anyhoo we got new bedding, curtains and a panel system...crazy new thing, see here. Sean got his chest of drawers he desperately needed, we got a big rug for the living room and some other randoms.

example of panel system - Ikea

We had a freaktastic dinner Saturday night that made the whole weekend totally perfect. We ate at Sable Kitchen + Bar and OMG the food was so yummy - duck fat fries, espresso steak, duck leg with pork ragout! The head chef is from a season of Top Chef and we saw her as we were leaving! She thanked us for coming...haha. We had drinks and apps at Devon Seafood Grill before and I drank wine and champagne all night! Taking in the late Vday holiday was so fun. Future guests, we are so going to take you to Sable! Now back to work and finishing the apartment so I can show pics soon. The bathroom is FAR from being done but the tub is beautiful!!!

 

redoooo it | bath time

So President's weekend has finally come and this means that I am off Monday and Sean got THREE days off in a row to spend all weekend with me! And it's about time we finish our bathroom! The tub is in desperate need of a makeover and we are adding new bathroom accessories to spruce it up. I do have to say though...I've realized that I just can't win with this bathroom, no matter how much I change it. There are cracks in the tile, paint droppings on the floor, 2 big holes above the toilet that can be mistaken for bullet holes....shall I go on?

And check this bathroom out, I can't believe I found this on Apartment Therapy! To give you an idea of what we are working with - this bathroom has our EXACT tile. Yellow with a black trim. See the pedestal sink? That was like ours. You will also notice all the black fixtures...well for some reason all of ours are (very poorly) painted white! I want ours to be black and I know it is going to take a lot of elbow grease!

So can you kinda get an idea of what I am working with here? Don't you think the new shower curtain is perfect for the colors? I know I need to stay positive and think on the brighter side - we got a brand new toilet, sink and vanity and the bathroom has a window! Can't wait to show you all the before and after pics! Happy weekend loves!

 

you stress me out anthropologie!

I have a very BIG love/hate relationship with Anthropologie, as you can see from the letter I wrote them a few months ago....well of course they have made me mad again! Since I am off work Monday, Sean and I decided that this would be the weekend to finish redoing our bathroom. We are going to resurface the tub and fixtures, touch up the horrible paint job, add a shelf or two, add new bath mats and get the Anthro shower curtain that will tie it all together.

So I go to order the shower curtain Tuesday so it will be here by Friday and to my HORROR it was not on the site anymore! They SOLD OUT! Are you effing kidding me!? Just when I have the money and it is the perfect time to buy the effing thing is GONE. I am cursing and crying to Sean, and of course he is like "it will be okay, we will find a new one, stop freaking out...."

Ugh, so I am depressed and sad and try to move on...well knowing me I obsess about it all day Wednesday and decide that I am going to find that damn shower curtain even if it kills me! The first place I check out is eBay and WHALA there it is! So of course I go nuts and buy it because the ad says it is the last one they have (supposedly) and now I am super happy! Sorry for such a long and overly dramatic story but I was really upset when I went to go buy it on Anthro's site. You stress me out Anthropologie!

happy love day!

Our new neighbor is this old man named John and he likes to decorate his door for EVERY holiday. I'm going to try and snap pics of every season and post here for you. So we will begin with Valentine's Day! Cute right?

And here is what I got my sweetie. We don't do a big Valentine's Day so we always do something small but cute. Sean got a promotion at work, he is Pub Manager now, which means he is basically in charge of all aspects of the bar and alcohol inventory. I think it's perfect for him and fun too! Well he has now been working even longer hours and I thought he could use some of his favorite granola bars from Trader Joe's. He LOVES these and I do too, but this box is only for him. I am not allowed to touch it! Ha ha...

And one of our favorite movies is I Love You, Man and if you have seen it you know why I bought this card! Plus the city looks like Chicago!

working out sucks

Today is officially my "get with it and lose some pounds" day. I took a two week break from the gym due to traveling, awesome TV, double sicknesses and being just plain tired. But now I feel better, my mood is up and I can't wait to workout again.

And it was perfect timing for me when I picked up this book, Working Out Sucks, at work last week and it has really started to motivate me. I have to say that I really like this book, it is funny and very honest and makes you go "duh, I need to get off my lazy ass!"

I'll keep posting more quotes from this book but for now I'll start with this one that made me laugh out loud:

...thanks to smartphone technology, you can now order a movie, get a large pizza with cheese-jammed crust, download a newspaper, walk your avatar dog, and talk to your friends and family without exercising anything more than your thumbs...

This made me laugh because I LOVE my Pizza Hut app on my phone...ha ha ha.