The Monday shuffle (and a fantastic website I just discovered)

There really should be a song with that title. That [the] Mamas and the Papas song doesn't really do justice to how dull and pedantic Mondays are. Are everyone else's Mondays filled with such hate and general dragging of the feet? Are there people out there who actually enjoy their Mondays? If so, can I do what they do?

My usual Monday:

• Wake up cranky and in a bad mood. Spill my coffee, forget my breakfast at home, yell at someone who hasn't realized the light has turned green. Maybe chuckle at a morning radio show bit. 
• Get to work at 8:30, spend a half hour ignoring my Outlook inbox in lieu of reddit, Pinterest (more on this fabulous site later) and Facebook.
• Have a meeting wherein we follow up on everything we did last week, dwell on all the things we didn't do, then make promises about all the things we'll do this week.
• Sluggishly see to things requiring my immediate attention. 
• Go home for lunch and debate going back to work. 
• Begrudgingly go back to work, spend another half hour on the internet, then sign off of everything that will distract me. Actually get some work done. 
• Watch the clock count down to 5:00. Decide my workday is done, but decline to sit in traffic only to make myself angrier. Spend 30 minutes filing, organizing my desk, and making up for all that time I spent on the internet earlier in the day.
• Sit in traffic, despite my best efforts to avoid it. 
• Go grocery or Target shopping. 
• Go home, take pants off. If it's after 7:00, I immediately make myself a cocktail while I cook dinner. If it's before 7:00, I take my pants off and lay in bed until it's time for a cocktail.

The remainder of my recent evenings have tended to involve old episodes of Twin Peaks (holy creepiness, David Lynch... your mind is a maze full of bonkers) and the aforementioned website Pinterest.

About Pinterest: If you love design and fashion and cooking and DIY projects and furniture and anything remotely creative, you will absolutely love this website. It's a site where members submit links of design ideas, photos, artwork, Etsy products, cooking blogs, everything creative on the internet. Then other members can "pin" those ideas to their own "boards." It's kind of like a virtual bulletin board or clipboard. Just to give you a taste of what it's about, here is a link to my Fashion board and one to my Home style board.

Screenshot of my Fashion board

I use Pinterest as a way to keep track of recipes I want to try, books I want to read, and ideas for home design and fashion by "pinning" links and photos of these things to my boards. You can create as many boards as you want for anything you find on the site: artwork, photography, inspirational quotations, wedding ideas, etc. I implore any fellow design-aholics to check this site out!

Alright, gang. The time is now 1:26 on Monday afternoon. I've spent a good portion of my lunch hour writing this blog post, and thus I must eat my lunch at my desk instead of going home and browsing Pinterest. Le sigh.

Happy Monday shuffle, y'all!

While the boss is away....

....there's only so much busy work I can do.

My boss has been out sick ALL WEEK. I've done everything I can possibly do in the meantime to keep myself busy, and I am getting B-O-R-E-D. Hence I thought now would be a good time to write a blog post. Only I don't really have much to write about, so this might be a hodgepodge of miscellaneous topics:

• The Rad Boyfriend and I are going to Florida in May to visit family and attend a wedding. We'll be in Miami for 2 nights and in Orlando for 2 nights. Any suggestions on what to do in Miami? The last time I was there, I was 15 and only remember The News Cafe and this. (Don't click on that if you're at work--while not offensive, it might shock some work folk.) Any suggestions on restaurants and whatnot would be helpful =)
  
  
• Because I'm poor, I went clothes shopping at Target recently and found some AWESOME stuff. Seriously ladies, check it out!
  
  
• When I first moved into my current house, everything was white: white walls, while built-ins, white appliances, white white white. Even my bedset at the time was white:

So I went to Bed Bath & Beyond recently and bought a bedset almost the exact opposite of white: it's brown. Dark brown with shades of aqua and lime green. Pair that with the dark wook furniture and the darker curtains I bought, I'm starting to think it's just too dark in the room. ::Sigh:: I guess we live and learn through decorating mistakes.

• Here is an adorable picture of Tioga, one of the kitties Red and I have temporarily adopted:

I say temporarily because her mommy and daddy are in Peru doing Peace Corps-type work and will be back in July. I'm gonna miss these kitties!

Two Three things

Okay, four.

1. I'm sorry I haven't posted in a while. Things have been kinda busy around here, what with getting beat down by three-year-olds and having holes in my ceiling and these people needing me to run errands for them. Normal posting will resume shortly. I hope.
   
2. It SNOWED here today on Long Island. April effing 8th and it SNOWED. I bet it stopped being winter three weeks ago in Minnesota. I bet the slush has already melted in Denver. I bet people in Phoenix are already using their swimming pools, but here in New York IT'S SNOWING. Wtf.
   
3. Some guy in Home Depot told me I had a fantastic ass. I will now be wearing my Guess jeans and heels every day. [Yes, I wore heels to Home Depot.]
4. Sneak peek of what's to come:
   

FINALLY!

I mentioned last week that someone (ahem...Nona....ahem) woke me up on Friday at 6:30am. Why? Because the plumber was supposed to come and fix a leak in our bathroom, and 6:30 is apparently a reasonable time to begin preparing for such an event.

For those of you who don't know me personally, let me give you some insight into my living situation: home is a two-family house in Queens, the house where I've lived for my entire life. Mom and I are on the first floor, while Nona lives upstairs. Nona grew up with 8 brothers and sisters and no bathroom, so she consequently has no sense of personal boundaries. She often does things like walk in on you while you're in the shower to ask if you want soup. And call you at 6:30 in the morning to tell you the side door is locked and she can't get into your apartment, and oh my God, the plumber is coming and she NEEDS to be there because clearly I'm not capable of listening for a doorbell. At 6:30 in the morning. Because that's when plumbers typically begin work: before sunrise. Did I mention this was at 6:30am? No? Well it was actually 6:26.

The point of the story isn't to call my grandmother out on her annoying habits (although I could dedicate a blog entirely to that subject.) The point of this story to inform everyone that IT has begun. The IT that this house has been anticipating for decades. The IT that began with painting my room, the IT that required my mom to refinance her mortgage (4.625% APR, holla!), the IT that will increase the resale value of this property by at least 10%. Yes my friends, RENOVATION IN THE DSB HOUSEHOLD HAS FINALLY BEGUN!!



We're starting with just a few minor repairs in the bathroom. We'd love to get rid of that 1990's baby blue theme, but we're sticking to fixing some leaks and replacing the floor. The rest will have to come later.

First on the list: pulling up the seafoam green carpet that's been gracing my bedroom floor since 1992 and putting down some awesome bamboo flooring.

Second: the kitchen. Gutting it completely. Kocking down walls, pulling up tile, and installing brand new cabinets, countertops, and appliances. New lighting. New kitchen table. (And a wine fridge!)

Third: the living room. Installing some built-ins with a fireplace, and lighting. We have new hardwood floors and modern furniture, but the 1970's wall unit and some other accessories remain. Like this thing:

And that mirror. I hate that mirror. That mirror has been in the living room since I was born and it needs to go. Anyone interested in purchasing it? I'm dead serious.

If there are any funds left over, we'll focus on getting rid of the baby blue in the bathroom. It's perfectly functional, but it's just so....blue.

Mom and I are off to pick up the bamboo flooring this afternoon. Once it's installed, those pictures I promised back in January will finally be posted. I can't tell you how happy I am to finally be getting rid of this:

Chocolate milk and Kahlua is DELICIOUS

So I spent the weekend spackling, sanding, priming and painting. (More pictures to come soon.) As a result, I'm just a little sore. And when say "a little," I mean "OW OW MY NECK." Thankfully the last time my neck went ow, I was studying for the bar and my script-happy doctor gave me something for the pain....a little something called muscle relaxant. Wash one of those down with a White Russian, and man does it feel good. I did the same thing last night and slept for 12 hours. TWELVE! I think the last time I slept for that long was that time in the Motherland when--wait. I just realized I'm posting publicly on the internet while under the influence of some very potent drugs. Something tells me if I finish that sentence, I'll regret in the morning. Moving on...

I think 2009 will see a lot of home improvement in the DSB household. My best friend of 17 years (GOD I'm old) is getting married in October and I have volunteered our house as the "get ready" house. And we certainly can't have people getting their hair and makeup did in a tired-looking home. So up next is new hardwood floors in my room, followed by a kitchen remodel in late spring/early summer. Hopefully I can convince my mother to do the bathroom at the same time, but we'll see how things go. One thing the maternal unit doesn't have to worry about is electrical work, as the bride's fiance just happens to be an electrician. Yay for connections! (Pun totally intended.)

Tomorrow will be spent at another non-life threatening doctor's appointment with some relatives. The same relatives with whom I spent a lovely day in this post. At least this time I have my iPhone to keep me occupied.