DIY Friday: Nautical Glass Coaster

A while back, my mother-in-law passed this link along to me: http://www.fox11online.com/dpp/good_day_wi/thrifty-thursday-rope-crafts. The project seems to be pretty easy and God knows I can only do easy DIY projects. Also, I really would like to add more nautical touches to the house. I pretend that our lake house is a beach house, minus the beach. 

It took me a week to get the materials I didn't have: the rope and the cork coasters. I went to Farm and Fleet and Hobby Lobby to get the materials, respectively. Then, it took me another week to start it. I'm blaming my baby, again. I become this really lazy person, which is weird because he is very active inside. So, as you may guess it, it took me another week to finish four of them. Ha! 

My mother-in-law also texted me that my father-in-law picked up a lamp that was thrown out that would be perfect for this project. Do I dare to imagine how long it will take me to do the lamp? 

At the beginning, I hot glued the rope before I placed it on the coaster. But it was a stupid idea. I realized that I could hot glue the coaster instead and wrap the rope on it. Much faster.

The nice thing about this coasters is that they are durable. I can use them outside, which hopefully will do fine under Wisconsin's summer season.

Go Badgers!

Throwback Thursday: Eight Years Later

Eight years later in 2013...Just me trying to be cuddly with Lucky who's not having it. 

Let's rewind.

"Pick you up at Memorial Union." - A. A. G.

I am skipping my story how I got here and the trips we took to Niagara Falls and Miami. I am leaving those to my memoir ;)

MY mother, aunt, uncle, grandfather, and I flew to Chicago from JFK and took the Val Galder bus to Memorial Union, Madison where my brother was supposed to pick us up. We arrived in Madison on August 15th, 2005. Moving day. Bad bad choice. My brother's uhaul had broke down earlier which delayed him a little bit.

 Fast forward later that day

We got to the 2-bedroom apartment I'd be sharing with him. He then went to return the uhaul truck with my uncle. My mom and my aunt started organizing stuffs and then about 5 pm they asked me to go buy food at this Korean place. By this time, my mom had been to Madison several times. But, noooo, they wanted me, the girl who just got here, didn't know anybody or anything, and who just figured out the money bills to go by HERSELF? Yes, just because I spoke English. Important note: At that time, I barely spoke English. Not to mention knowing the culture.

Off I went to point A to point B as shown in figure below. They gave direction: "Just walk straight until you find it. Here's what you need to order." It's 2 blocks away. Easy peasy. 

My Checklists:

1. Arrive safely at the restaurant ü

2. Order Beef Bokum ü

3. Pay correctly ü

4. Have a conversation with a Korean for the first time ü

5. Don't mess up no. 4 û

6. Get home quickly û

When I did no. 4. Basically it was me answering Yes/No to whatever the waiter asked. He was interested in asking me question because obviously I looked new in town. 

Well, he asked me if I was new, in which I said Yes. 

He asked if I was Korean, I said No. 

He asked me where I was from. "Indonesia." 

He asked me if I was studying in college, in which I said Yes. 

Now, he should have stopped. But he then asked me again if I was an undergraduate or a graduate student (I think, I was not sure what he asked). In which, I said, "Graduate." Too funny. Remember the Important note above?

I blamed the universe for not giving me the opportunities to dive into the American culture beforehand. At that time, I still didn't know I made a mistake by saying that. Getting to point no 6, on the way back I kept thinking if I answered something wrong. I kept on walking and for sure I missed the apartment building. I kept walking for 4 or 5 more blocks until I thought, "Hm...It was not that far...Where am I??!!" I walked my way back and guessed the building since there was this one with an open door.

Now.....The thing is.....I didn't bring any keys with me......Thankfully, it was moving day, where people tend to prop the main entrance door open to move stuffs easier. Otherwise...............I don't know. Sitting outside and crying? I didn't even know the door was locked automatically. 

Nevertheless, my brother laughed so hard when I told him about my "graduate" answer. It was his joke for quite some times.

Sadly, I don't have any pictures in 2005. I used Friendster instead of Facebook. So all pictures are gone now. Even the one from high school. This 2005 picture was taken in September. We were about to have a surprise birthday at Union South.

Another milestone in Madison was my 21st birthday. The picture was taken at Capitol Centre Market. My first legal alcohol. Not happy about winter birthday though.

Cheers to more and more exciting stories,

On Having A Yellow Door

To set the mood, I am also currently listening to Tie a yellow ribbon - Tony Orlando song on replay. Oh tie the yellow ribbon 'round the old oak tree. It's been three long years, do you still want me..

But, I think that I am actually someone who's afraid of colors. Of bright colors, specifically. I mean, I prefer cloudy/ partly cloudy, remember?

So when we are painting our side garage door (it's on the side, basically nobody will see it except for the neighbor next door), it was weird that I came up with the idea to paint it color! It was just white otherwise. I could see sparks on my husband's eyes when I mentioned it (meaning he liked the idea). But when I said royal/ navy blue color, the sparks were gone (remember how I prefer not so bright color?). I wanted the sparks back badly, also because it means I have a final say on something, so I quickly said, "YELLOW!" and the sparks were back!

He then tried to send me to go get this yellow paint color by myself (because we took the doors of the hinges, so no lock), I had a panic attack. I said I couldn't do it, because I was cursed with choosing a color. I pretended I was crying out loud (or maybe it's because of the baby? Can't tell), so we decided on a range of color, between a screwdriver and a box of marigold seed. The screwdriver was a brighter yellow, while the marigold seed box was a yellow with a hint of orange. We like the color of the box better. I believe this is the fastest time we ever reached a decision together.

So I was off to Home Depot to get the Behr paint. I tried to pick the closest yellow paint, but I couldn't find it! (Cursed) so I asked the guy to color match it with the marigold seed box. I knew that my husband will not agree with that decision. But in my head, I just didn't want to screw it up. Actually, if I put the box right next to the door, the color matches!!

So here it is, a yellow door. We call it the marigold color :)