Rug In Its Natural Habitat

Here's the new rug in situ. I finally put some things on the wall as well!

This Rug Really Ties The Room Together

I took the plunge and bought myself a rug. A big commitment if there ever was one. After consulting several acquaintances with objectively good taste, I settled on this one:

So far, I'm very happy with my choice. I had a coupon because now when you set up mail forwarding with USPS, they give you the option to get all kinds of coupons for your new home. Great for saving money, bad for cutting down on ridiculous catalog infestation.

The rug is actually very soft despite being an outdoor rug. It went on sale right after I bought it (of course) but my deal hunter friend advised me to call the company, and they adjusted the price for me. Double YAY!

I also got a bunch of other previously-loved goodies for the apartment and hung up some stuff on the walls, so I will post more pictures soon.

Funny Things You Discover About Yourself When You Move, Part II

Apparently I collect leaf plates. And mortar and pestle sets.

Cherry Scones

This is my mom's recipe for scones, but I substituted dried cherries instead of the raisins she uses.
Easy, and so tasty! My grandmother tells me it's also possible to freeze the dough once it's mixed and shaped, so you can have fresh baked scones whenever you want.

Mom's Scones
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
4 tsp. baking powder*
3 tbsp. sugar
1/4 cup shortening
3/4 cup raisins
3/4 cup milk

Combine all dry ingredients. Cut in shortening with pastry blender (or a fork). Add milk and blend. Turn dough out onto floured board and knead lightly about 1/2 inch thick. Cut into 6 triangles. Brush with milk, sprinkle with sugar, and bake in 450 degree oven for 8-10 minutes until brown.

*If baking powder is older than 2 months, double the amount.

Girl Time!

I recently enjoyed a brief visit from Jana-rama, who is a hoot. About a week after she left I turned on my camera and found this:

Thanks, Jana! I love you! <3

Flip Flopper

As I previously mentioned, the layout of this new apartment is a bit odd. The front room, which has windows facing the street, also has a walk-in closet. As a result, I thought, "This must be the bedroom." The back room, which is smaller, and farther from the street noise, has no closet and is the connected to the kitchen, so I thought, "This must be the living room."

Unfortunately, using the rooms in this layout didn't really feel natural. The living room felt cramped and the front room was too noisy for sleeping (and I can sleep through a nuclear holocaust, so that's saying something). So, I decided to swap the purposes of the two rooms. It will be weird to walk through the bedroom to get to the kitchen, and to walk into the living room to get my clothes in the morning. But I decided if it's too weird, I'll just switch it back!

BEFORE: Front Room


BEFORE: Back Room

Do-It-Herself: I Built a Bookcase!

Technically I installed a shelf system, but I'm still proud. To make the very shallow, door-less closet in the back room useful, I got a custom shelving system from the Container Store and installed it myself. It was actually embarrassingly easy. I predict it will also be embarrassingly easy to fill with my junk.