Trying this blog thing ... again

I have been obsessed with trying to be more creative with my clothes and come up with new combinations (with minimal new purchases). 

Today's summery work outfit: 

Blazer: Banana Republic Outlet recent, Tank: H&M, Skirt: Banana Republic Outlet circa 2012, Necklace: www.simpleaddiction.com

My new favorite room

I have been wanting a new washer and dryer since the day we decided to buy our house, but there was no good reason, until recently. The washer started to dance around the laundry room a lot more, knocking things over and making all kinds of crazy noises. But the thing that really pushed me to the edge was the washer door wouldn't stay open and always when I was transferring the laundry to the dryer... and bang, I'd get bonked on the head reaching into the machine. So out with the old and in with the new, but before we got bring the new in, we had to redo the laundry room.

The laundry room, before the redo:

 With cabinets removed

 and machines removed

 blissfully empty!

 repainted and ready for new cabinets

 new cabinets up
(short a knob because I bought the wrong one at Home Depot)

 and... Presto! done and done

We got our machines at hhgregg in Lawrenceville, NJ. Next post will be on the hhgregg experience. Do you have new favorite room in your house and why?

Draw Something ... then you've got Something Drawn

The hubby and I are a little bit obsessed or rather "enjoying" the OMGPOP game, Draw Something. I don't have a proper device (I have a Blackberry) so I grab hubby's phone to play whenever I have the chance.

Anyhow, after we played a bunch of games we started saving screenshots and emailing them around. Realizing email was not the best way to share the impressiveness of Draw Something artwork, hubby created SomethingDrawn to showcase the fancy artwork of Draw Something players. Beyond the artwork, contributors can earn badges for their submissions and rate the drawings posted.

Here's my favorite of my drawings:

What to do...

It's been quite a few months since my last post and honestly I am not quite sure what to do with this blog anymore. It's so much easier to post to Facebook little musings and such but also I feel the blog allows me to write more and express myself more, but I honestly just don't feel like I have the time or energy.

I've thought about refocusing the theme of the blog but again it comes down to if it's something I want to spend my time doing. I've thought about revolving the theme around fashion (which I love more than my wallet can handle) but then I don't know if I have enough to say about fashion to fill a blog... and do I want to have published evidence of my shopping habits for my husband to see. He never says anything and he's our official UPS greeter so maybe it'll be fine.

So I guess to try and start this whole blog thing up again, I'll kick off the fashion aspect with my latest fashion find...

A Jason Wu for Target skirt for just under $9!

I was at Target last weekend getting the mundane and on sale paper towels and toilet paper when I decided I couldn't resist the clearance racks. I went through the racks one item at a time and first found an adorable Jason Wu top that was marked down but so NOT my size. So I soldiered on and came across this gem but was wary of the size (marked 4) so I headed to the dressing room with my fingers crossed. It fit and when I did a price check it came up around $8.98. It's available online for a more than double.

I wore it to work this past week with a cream tank and black blazer and received a few compliments on the skirt. The skirt is pretty well made and should be easy to wash at home if you hand wash or wash on gentle and hang dry to preserve the pleating.

Time to get ready for a darling baby's Baptism. Happy Sunday.

Grandpa

I found out early this morning that my paternal grandfather had passed away. He was 89 years old.

It wasn't shocking since he had been sick for awhile (he was in a persistent vegetative state for about five years or so) and we had an inkling last year that his time was near. Even knowing all of that, I was still surprised to see my youngest brother's email, sent at midnight, breaking the bad news because he didn't want to call and wake anyone up. (I know, what a sweetheart.)

At about 6:15am, I broke down and spent a good five minutes on the bathroom floor crying. I've never had anyone in my immediate family die before. Sure, I've had friends and acquaintances pass; but never family - I have my siblings, my parents and up until yesterday I had both sets of grandparents. I continued to get ready for work and contemplated staying home. I thought about the meetings I'd miss at work and how I would likely spend the day miserable and crying my eyes out. I then thought of my grandpa and how he fought for so long and how we, his family, all held on to hope for so long. How now my aunts and grandmother would have their lives back in sense, as they spent the last five years caring for him at home. I decided to go to work and it helped keep my mind off things. But at the end of the day, the moment I walked through my front door, I cried.

 

Grandma, Grandpa and Jenny at age 2 in Taipei, Taiwan. 

The above picture is about 28 years old. I remember my grandfather fondly... how he and my grandmother would visit every year for a few months when we were growing up. Sometimes they'd come together, sometimes they'd alternate their visits - one grandparent at a time. They both knew how much I loved anything to do with airplanes (just like my dad) and would make sure I got those plastic pilot wings or even just packets of those airplane peanuts (before peanut allergies were an issue). Sometimes those peanuts would be salted and if I was lucky, they'd be honey roasted. Yum!

When my brother Frankie and I were little, we were horrible eaters. We would drag out breakfast forever. I don't understand why we did - it goes against human nature but we did. My mom would start getting angry and would be ready to holler at us. In swooped grandpa and what did he do? He BRIBED us! He offered us each a quarter to finish our breakfast and get off to school. We weren't stupid, we took the deal and gobbled down our breakfasts and we were 25 cents richer.

I have so many wonderful memories of grandpa, but it's so hard to grasp that I'll never see him again and all I now have are pictures and memories.

Grandpa, rest in peace. We love you.