Sunday, April 19, 2009

The saga of my move continues.

Very exciting updates: I have a dining room table and chairs, counter space, and a partition to make a "bedicle" (bedroom cubicle--blame Josh for that).

Here is my table: James sweetly gave it to me for the price of a cupcake. The man drives a hard bargain.
New dining room table!

Yesterday, Meg and I journeyed to Ikea in Elizabeth to buy a boatload of stuff for her new apartment, and a kitchen island and bookcase for mine. The boys briefly questioned whether we should take more than one car, but we wanted to drive together for the company and make it more fun than errand-running. So, off we drove in Meg's little sedan.

We had a great time perusing the beautiful and cheery Ikea rooms, feeling so European and frugal. We admired the storage options, the window dressings, and the kitchen accessories. We each impulsively bought only one thing--mine was glass vase etched with leaves--and found everything on our lists.

She bought herself a kitchen island, a big glass coffee table, a filing cabinet, a bedside table, a desk, three mirrors, and two dining room chairs.

Hmm. How WERE we to fit this into the car?!

One thing to remember is that Ikea furniture comes in flat boxes.
The cart. This does not even include an island and a desk.

It turned into one big Tetris game, with much pushing and shoving and shifting and sweating (our first 75+F day of the year!). Fairly gloriously, on our first try, this happened:
OH BUT WE DID!!

That's right. The trunk and all four doors were able to close, no twine needed even.
That's right.

Good thing we didn't bring Luc! Where would he go!?
See?! See?! IT FITS.

After that triumph, comes the pain of assembling Ikea furniture. Thankfully, we have our amigos to help with that!
Meg and Josh worked hard on my bookcase/room partitioner:
Meg and Josh put together my bookcase!

And Luc singlehandedly assembled my island:
Luc put together my island!

THANKS GUYS!

Saturday, April 11, 2009

I MOVED!!

So exciting--I moved out of my two bedroom apartment and into a beautiful and spacious studio of my very own. I am loving setting it up just how I want it. It is still definitely a work in progress!

One thing that is a problem is a lack of counter space, so I'm going to get a kitchen island to go perpendicular to this wire stand.

Then there is my living room:
A REAL coffee table!

I got the couches for free from friends, and Meg gave me the lovely coffee table. I want to get rid of the green carpet and get something prettier, but that won't be in my budget for a few months. Also, eventually I would like a new slipcover for the lovely denim couch...

I have a huge walk-in closet:
Amy's sketch in the walk-in closet!

That leads to...my bathroom. Yes. That's a bit weird. Oh well. That means I'll just keep my closet very organized!
Karl's painting

New shower curtain!

My favorite part is my gorgeous patio:
New Patio!!
Patio and boots I will make into planters.

This is where I want my dining room table to go:
This is where I want the dining room table to go, actually, once I get one.

Here's my fishy:
Luna is hangin' out.

Here is the bedroom...corner...:
The Bedroom.

Another fabulous thing about this place? Laura lives directly next to me, and Meg is moving into my building TODAY!!!


Patio art and new mat!

Saturday, April 4, 2009

David's trip to see ME!!


BROTHER AND SISTER!
Originally uploaded by moosicalmath
The weekend of March 20-23, my darlin' younger (not little) brother flew out to visit me in New Jersey for the first time! (Well, first since I've lived here...he visited when I was an intern.)

David arrived completely exhausted. Why? You see, David is a senior at UW in EE. David woke up at 4:30am to catch his bus to Seattle, took an 8:30am final, then another final at 2:30pm, then caught a 10pm flight to Newark, in which his 6'3'' frame was stuffed into a middle seat on a crowded plane, then he arrived in New Jersey at 6:30am, then I drove him an hour back to Princeton, then I made him eggs, and then...David did this for about six hours:

Sleepy Booooy!

Once he returned to the waking world, we visited lab for the express purpose of challenging James in this fabulous game:
David challenging James in pingpong

Now, James is GOOD. Like really GOOD. But then, so is Davey...we were treated to a fantastic game that ended with David barely winning, 22-20.

Josh and I joined Dave and Jimmy for a doubles match, but due to my inadequacies, David and I lost to them twice. Ah well. :)

That evening, Bro and I challenged James to MORE games: he had us over for Chinese food, cupcakes, and the WII!! We exhausted ourselves playing tennis, bowling, boxing, and golf. Fabuloso.

Saturday morning, we woke up and hit the train:
Dave and Jess on the train to NY

Davey and I walked from Penn Station down to Chelsea, enjoying the sunny (yet windy) NYC day, smelling the sounds, seeing the sights, and looking for a good lunch place. We ate at a retro-modern diner that had pretty good burgers and really tall waitresses. Then, we strolled up to Times Square, where we took obligatory tourist pictures, looked at lots of stuff we didn't want to buy, and drank coffee:
Coke ad...except he's drinking Starbucks
Soooo many M&Ms!

Around 1:30, we got in line at the Barrymore Theater for our afternoon entertainment--the relatively new show on Broadway, Exit the King!
Exit the King was...interesting!

So it was...interesting. It's a very dark comedy that is mostly about death and life and the stages of grief about learning you're dying and was my life worth it?!?! and well, it kind of ended up just being about a selfish old man. But! It was extremely well acted--Geoffrey Rush and Susan Sarandon were two of the excellent five person cast. That was worth it by itself--seeing such famous and talented people in person! :D Plus, how often do I get to see a play with my brother? NOT OFTEN. He enjoyed it too. As he said...it's a novelty!

Then, we trekked up from 47th and 8th to 81st and 5th, through Rockefeller Center...
New York: Pretzels and Rockefeller

... by the fancy shops, and along the park to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. David was really excited about the Met! He's an artist (perhaps on hold right now...but he's good!!) and into history (especially the art of war). After calling Mom and Dad from a bench by Central Park...
HI MOM! We walked from 47th and 8th to 81st and 5th. We're restin'.

...we amused ourselves mainly in the Egyptian and Arms and Armory sections:
Dave: "This was in Rogue Spear."
Dave likes the knights.

After the Met, we were TIRED. The Met's HUGE. And we walked several blocks up there...so, we took a cab down to dinner. I took Davey to Akdeniz, the Turkish Place we went after the ballet in December. It was again delicious, and again filled with good-looking Turkish men. Ahem. After eating our fill, we walked back to Penn and waited for our train:
Dave and Jess waiting for the train home in NY

Sleepy, aren't we?

Sunday, I took him to church, where he got to meet a couple of people and see where I fellowship. Then, sadly, I had to go hang out in Frist Campus Center all afternoon doing rehearsals for my dance show the coming week. Ah well--he amused himself juuuuust fine on Princeton's wireless.
Dave hung out in Cafe Viv while I had rehearsal!


That evening, we met Luc, Josh, and Meg for dinner at Winberries, and then forced David to meet a whole heap of people at the department party. :D He had a lovely chat with my advisor and his wife and got to meet more of my friends. I think he enjoyed himself! I enjoyed showing him off!

Monday, we slept in, ate lunch at Panera, and then I had to drive him to the airport and say goodbye. :( I miss my amazing brother! Love you, Davey!