TER·RAR·I·UM

If I want to display an indoor plant it needs to describe my personalities; fun, nerdy, beautiful, low maintenance. Anything that is slightly beyond low maintenance will result in the death of the plant and my paranoia. I am so bad that I still need my husband's help in taking care of my aloe vera plant. So when I told him that I wanted to do some kind of terrarium/succulent combo and excitedly announced, I have the perrrrrfect spot for it! he only chuckled. I repeat, he chuckled. 

That's why I am dedicating this post for him. I'll release the landscape goddess inside me so he can thank me later! 

Now, what kind of vase do I want? Which plants do I like? What materials do I need? Is there any special soils I have to get? Wait, how do I buy the plants? Hmmm, if only it's as easy as finding these inspirations....What to do...What to do......

1. via imgur | 2. via etsy | 3. via flickr | 4. via west elm | 5. via tumblr | 6. via midwestliving

Nautical Living Room

We have another living room on the first floor that we don't use (yet). Right now, we are using our second floor living room that looks like a standard living room. Couch and love seat in espresso faux leather material, espresso coffee and side table, and boring throw pillows (they came with the couch). Not to mention a bunch of speakers and electronic stuffs. We are planning on buying/making a long floating cabinet that will hide store all of those stuffs. But, that is the least of our priorities. Meanwhile, we're working on our kitchen, door and window trim, and throwing junks that we both accumulated throughout the years. Oh! And of course to prep for the coming of our own little monkey. Thus, in order to keep me sane, I have been dreaming about that first floor living room.

I have compiled several ideas of what I want to have. Obviously I focus too much on tables (I have the glass coffee table, the garden stool functioning as side table, and ship wheel side table). My husband and I for sure want a cowhide rug. I want accent chairs, for sure (wingback is preferred). But who knows when we will eventually get around to do this.

I guess it's time. Back to "work"

On finalizing our kitchen plan: what I'm obsessed with

Side note: I let my coffee sit too long enough, I got this great 'iced' coffee (as I poured the coffee from the mug to a glass)

I have been am currently trying to finalize our kitchen plan for 3 months. We are in a state of agreement, which is good considering I have to face Mr. I'm-going-to-criticize-your-plan. It's going to be an L-shaped with an island. The L-shaped cabinets will be in white, while the island cabinets will be in gray (I was going to go for red island, quickly turned down). All cabinets are shaker style door with slab drawers. The kitchen plan is shown in the picture below, the base cabinets are drawn with solid black lines and the wall cabinets are shown with dotted red lines (can't really see it). About 3 feet to the right of the fridge will be the pantry.

We ordered bathroom cabinets from Menards-Schrock, but we switched to Home Depot-Kraftmaid for our master bath, laundry, and 2nd floor wet bar. We personally think that the qualities are comparable. So, we'll see who has a better deal when we're ready to move on with the kitchen. Note: We need to build the soffit around the wall yet. 

One good idea (that will not happen because I did not see the picture until outside studs were built, which was waaaay back in Sep '12) was to have picture windows installed in between countertop and wall cabinets (the standard 18" gap), so that more lights could come in. Oh well. 

But, I'm obsessing with these now:

Let's discuss from top left corner, clockwise:

1. Pot filler. 

I gasped when I first saw it above the range in a kitchen design. What is this, I asked. To fill your pots with water when cooking, he said. Since then, I couldn't take my mind off of it. He though it was cool too (No good until I got the seal of approval. My ideas are mostly crazy according to him. Umm..creative, you mean?) So, he called up his plumber (J.J. Below - Madison Plumbing - Oregon, WI. Awesome and affordable, highly recommended) and asked for some thought as the plumbing will be on the outside wall. Problem solved! We need to rock that outside wall and build another fake wall (3 in forward) in front of it, so the plumbing will be safe from freezing. Hooray! I'll get my pot filler (Price to pay: I lost 3" of a cabinet)

2. Pendant lighting. 

For the kitchen island, 2 mini pendants. Nautical feel. Reached an agreement.

3. KitchenAid Stand Mixer.

Not urgent, especially if I count how many times I have baked in my life. In red (the accent color of our white kitchen). Red accent will be on the window roman shade, maybe on the stool cushion too.

4. Range hood

This is what my husband wants. Industrial look for the hood. So he'll get that.

5. Bar pull

If it's possible to have the cabinet pull extends as long as the cabinet, I'll love that. If not, I'll just order whatever the longest (cheap from pullsdirect.com). Second floor wet bar will have this look too.

6. White subway tile backsplash

We like the clean feeling. But, we don't know is if it's going to be porcelain or of glass tile. We  I don't know if it's going to be placed horizontally or vertically. I gravitate toward the vertical because it matches with our vertically staggered bathroom tiles. But, in doing so, it doesn't go along the longest span as it does with horizontal placement.

7. Sharp microwave drawer

We were not looking for anything fancy. Microwave is a microwave. The problem that surfaced originally was where to put the microwave. Placing it on the wall cabinet or base cabinet? If I placed it on the wall, the cabinet would stick out further and might be a challenge to work on the counter space. I browsed around to see my options and I saw this Sharp. We went to Brothers Main to check it out. It's super cool. It's a drawer instead of a door opening which is good since we're putting the wave in the base cabinet. This thing excited me the most, until I stumbled upon the pot filler.

8. High kitchen faucet.

This one is courtesy of my husband. He liked the look, again commercial and industrial look. No argument.

9. Wolf rangetop

We don't know if we have the money to get one. But we are obsessed. I, again, looked at a kitchen design with a front-knob rangetop (I really should stop looking around). Then he saw this Wolf rangetop, he couldn't stop admiring it. We even watched a video how to install this kind of rangetop. Maybe, we won't get a fancy fridge (I had my eyes on the Samsung fridge previously) and get this instead. It's easier to swap out the fridge later than swapping out the rangetop. Is it just our wishful thinking? Oh! Did I mention my kitchen accent color is red....and the Wolf knobs are red......Hmmm.....Meant to be?

10. Center pic - Apron Sink

This was my original obsession, before the Sharp microwave, pot filler, or the Wolf range. Undermount, of course (hihihi) I think it matches well with the industrial look that my husband is going for.

Once again, not urgent, not nagging, and not demanding. Just obsessing.

Cheers

On my latest obsession

Nope, I am not obsessed with fall riding boots or trench coats,* but I'm obsessed with these:

1. Revenge - abc

Been waiting for this show all summer long. A little bit disappointed with the first episode of the second season, but I'm still obsesses with Emily Thorne. I may or may not like the time slot change. I like that it's on a Sunday, but I don't like it because I thought I could start watching The Good Wife again. Oh well

2. Concrete Mixer - Culver's

A little bit weird obsession coming into fall season, but here I am getting this almost once every week. I found my new 2 toppings which I could have probably thought about it before. Cookie dough and Kit Kat! I still haven't got enough of it yet, so I still count it as my obsession.

3. Flipboard

Yaay to this app! I highly recommend this app. You pick what you like (news, science, design, photography, etc) and there you have it. It gathers everything from all around the web. It sounds sooo simple, but I like the design of this flipboard app. I don't really have to go to a specific news website. I also like the category 'flipboard picks', it features interesting thing. I find myself open this Flipboard app the first thing in the morning. From my Samsung S3, the flipboard has grids of each category you chose. This is actually what I'd like to see with facebook news feed. For example a 2x3 grid; photo upload, status update, gaming stuff, etc. If I click 'photo upload' category, it will tell me which friends just upload pictures. So it's not too cluttered like what it is now.

4. Cocoa Puff

First time I have this cereal. Love it! I can have this cereal more than once a day. I also love how in the end, I'm drinking chocolate milk ;)

5. Horizontal Railing

Ever since my mom-in-law gave us the idea of having horizontal railing, I can't stay away from it. The modern look, the clean and simple feel. We will have brushed nickel for everything else (windows and door hardware, bathroom faucet and shower), so the metal feel fits well. The one thing that I found is that little kids will try to climb it as a ladder. But, we are so obsessed with this metal horizontal railing, my mommy genes just disappeared (scientist found that there might be a mommy gene which can make a woman to be more motherly, so to speak). We have to also see about the price. Railing system from wood will be cheaper.

Happy Fall!

*Note: I am not because I have been avoiding them. I don't look at them yet. I hope the time will come soon for me to be obsessed with them :)

On my latest obsession

Spicy McBites. We both loved it. We always get the shareable size with honey and honey mustard (it wasn't as good with ranch). As the name says, it's bite-size and it's spicy (Whoo!). Can't believe that I'm obsessed with junk fast food.

Yes, that's right. I am obsessed with holding a book, feeling the papers between fingers, and smelling it. The problem is I own a kindle. Mr. bought me a kindle a year ago. I loved it. I still do. However, since I bought several books last month, I could not stop thinking about holding a book. (Wait for another installment of what I'm reading)

Songza. My brother introduced this playlist. And now, I'm obsessed. It allows you to pick playlist based on the "mood". Oh, this is Sunday afternoon, I'm in the mood for nap song. Oh, this is Monday morning, play me a song for working. I do recommend Songza. I mean, Songza Monster is so cute.

On my latest obsession

I have once again become a fashion slave. Pretty much last year, I did not care about fashion and in general, how I look like. But this time around, with my wedding and rehearsal dinner coming up, plus all the days that I'll be spending with families and friends, I feel the need to somewhat catch up with my collection. Let's start with the rehearsal dinner dress. I'm in love with Zara blue lace dress, but I'm wearing my lacy wedding dress the next day. It may be too much all at once. So I decided to get the Tulip dress. I saw Kate Middleton in one of the Tulip dress versions, in different pattern. It looked good on her. But that particular color was a goner online and there is this green color left. While I like that one too, but every time I look at it, it reminds me of Indonesian batik pattern (where I'm from). Instead, I bought this version of the Tulip dress for the rehearsal dinner. I may want to add a pop of color. Maybe I'll wear my blue Pour La Victoire oxford heel shoes and royal blue earrings.

 

And, for either Friday morning, where I need to pick up my families, or Sunday morning, where I will have to say good-bye to my family. I bought this dress, Contrasting Collar dress. I am really in love with this one :) Makes me happy to think about it.

I also spotted a lot of other dresses from modcloth, but I think that I should stop before I'm spending a lot more money.

Next stop. My obsession with shoes is back! (Should not be that excited). But, in shorts I am obsesses with cap-toe quilted flats. The winner is of course French Sole Passport:

It is so sweet. It's neatly crafted, and it's super elegant. However, I don't think I really want to spend $225 for something that small. I mean, I can save the money and get a jet ski instead.

I have been looking for something similar or just its replacement, something affordable but either has the same two-tone color, quilted, or cap-toe. But nothing really speaks to me and when there is one, they're out of stock. The conclusion: I'm a bit late at fashion. Just wait until I get a job, though ;)

Now, off to stuffs that make me want to put on my bikini right now and jump to a lake, but I can't since I'm in the middle of Wisconsin spring.

Coast Celeste Print Dress

BCBG Delphine Jacquard Cocktail Dress

Oasis Bird Pleated Dress. My size is gone anyway

ModCloth Shore to Love Dress

 Well, better get back to work now.

On my latest obsession

"I don't know if this obsession is an actual obsession or if this is normal. I really like spending hours on reading news comment section. It's either about the Afghan shooting by US soldier or about the very unfortunate death of a Florida teen."

It starts with The Bachelor. Every Tuesday morning, I felt excited to read the recap or blogs about the night before's episode. If they show the awful side of Courtney, I would be eager to read what other people think. In a way, to affirm my repugnance to Courtney. I'd feel great if everybody also despised her. But, when one or two people defended her, I'd be, "What is she thinking?!" Well now, it just sounds horrible for me to judge someone intensely. After The Bachelor's over, I stop reading/ following them and go back to my normal news reading, or so I thought.

I found myself scrolling down the news page until the comment section where then I spent hours reading the supportive and non-supportive comments. Almost judging every person who did not agree with me (this is bad) I'd like to know if this is normal or not?!?!

Example of the comment from CNN page:

You can tell that I've been reading these comments by how small the scroll bar looks.

Love and warmth in March!

On Jason Wu Target Collection

I guess I am very naive. I watched the commercial on TV that the "cheap" version of Jason Wu collection will be on Target on February 5th. I was excited and I started looking at the lookbook online. See, I know that Target has been doing this for a while, but I did not really care before. I mean, if I can't afford the expensive one, I feel weird buying the cheaper version. But, the last designer before Jason Wu was Missoni. At that time, I missed the opening day (of course) and I just happened to go to a new Target and checked them out. Not a lot left, I can clearly see people already grabbed their favorite ones. So, I decided then that I was going to get on the next designer (if I like the collection, of course).

So, yesterday, I went to Target at noon. And I was really c.o.n.f.u.s.e.d. There is no such thing as Jason Wu collection. I did not see it anywhere, no trace no whatsoever of anything ever present there. So I walked around just once and still did not find anything. Then I left and went to Macy's instead. When I was back home, I went online and check out Target website. Well, I couldn't really buy it from there. It said "available in-store" But! when I checked it, it's out of stock in every stores in Madison. I gave up. Lesson learned: Find out more about what to do beforehand in an unfamiliar situation!