two turntables and a microphone?

How about one turntable?

Hookay, so my grandmother has this really cook record player console.  I've always loved it.  Loved the sound coming out of it. Loved the process of using it.  Loved the time spent around it with family.

By the time I was old enough to actually realize how much I appreciated the record player, both my older brother and sister had already laid claim to it.  So being that I have no chance on inheriting it, I've been looking into record players myself.

I started of course with Craig's List.  I soon realized that most record players on Craig's List would need restoration or be waaaaaay out of our price range.  But, I wanted something that looked old/retro/vintage/antique (just pick one).

I then went to trusty Amazon and only found those big clunky wooden looking things that are replicas of something that may have been old.  But to me, they're too gimmicky/fake looking.  Like this one.

Found here. Not my style at all.

I kept googling "record player," "phonograph," and "turntable," but nothing came up that I liked the look of.  I kept thinking, " I've seen a really cool one somewhere, where was that????"  Remembering that it was some kind of store like Anthropologie or something.  Then I remembered, Urban Outfitters.

So quickly I went to the UO website and started looking.  Sure enough.  There it was.  Perfect color and everything.

LOVE!

I love just about everything about this record player.  Color, style, simplicity. LOVE LOVE LOVE.

But then I started wondering about it.  All the reviews are great.  But it doesn't have a am/fm radio.  So it's got my hung up.  Should I go with something like this?

Found here.

This guy has some pretty decent ratings and all the bells and whistles, while still being affordable.  But it's missing the style.

Sigh, what to do, what to do?

mini breakdown?

So I'm having a little breakdown here.  I'll be 30 soon (end of October, that's soon enough) and I don't have a job.  But I don't want a damn job, I want a fucking career.  Sure, I'm certified to teach three and a half subjects, but I'm just not sure it's for me.  God knows the money isn't great (although any money would be great right now) and the hours are meh and the stress is AWFUL!  But I'd rather be doing that and gaining experience rather than job hunting and only finding things  like DSW Sales Associate, Whole Foods Cashier, or whatever office assistant job that comes up.  I hate the idea of all of this.  I want a career.  One that I don't' hate. One that pays decently so I can get Sallie Whoreface Mae of my back.

I thought that this was the whole point of going to school and taking out all those stupid loans, to have a successful career and not have to struggle like so many people who don't even go to any form of higher education.

Guess I was wrong.

Yay!

So when we were making the drive from natchez, MS to Broomfield, CO, I started feeling this tickle in my throat.  You know, the one you get right before your lungs betray you and you get bronchitis?   Yeah, that was what was happening.  Directly on arrive I had full blown bronchitis.  The hacking, coughing, snotting, choking, and even a little barfing as a result of all the hacking.  It was not fun.  On top of that, was the adjusting to the altitude.  Also, not fun.

I'll flat out say it, I'm fat.  So straight off, I already have things against me while adjusting to the altitude.  In Mississippi, I had been walking just about every day with a fellow teacher.  We walked about 4 miles a day.  Not bad in the sweltering Mississippi heat.  But then the walking slowed down as the busyness of the end of the school year picked up.  

The last couple of weeks, hell even month, I may have walked once...or twice, since I'm trying to be positive.  Then there was a buffer time in Natchez while I was packing up everything there and reorganizing things to be loading onto the moving-trailer.  Then of course the drive here, which now, looking back on it, wasn't sooooo bad.  I mean, there were miles and mies of nothing at some points of the drive, not something I want to do again any time soon.

Upon arrive and a week or so after, we were still trying to figure our apartment out.  Get all the necessities out of the way, get over bronchitis, and do the general I-just-moved-to-a-new-state-what-the-fuck-? stuff.  Now, almost five weeks since our arrive in on fire sunny Colorado, we're pretty much settled in.  We did the Craig's List/Furniture Search (you can read about that in the last post) and feel pretty good about the way the apartment is looking.

So now for the big Yay! that is the title of this post.  Finally, FINALLY, after settling in and getting over bronchitis, I almost feel like me again.  So much so, that I begged Ed to go for a walk with me after he got off work....and it felt GOOD.  

We didn't walk for long and we took Ebba with us, which meant a couple stops to potty.  But I had fun and want to make it a routine.  The biggest YAY of this whole post, I CAN BREATHE AND WALK AT THE SMAE TIME!  Not a big yay for many people and some people may even roll their eyes.  But it was a small accomplishment for me.  So Yay!

p.s. These posts always end up longer than I imagine when I start writing them.  I imagined this one to be like, four lines...

DOGGENS!!!!!!!

Ok, so Ed and I have been toying with the idea of getting a puppy for MONTHS.  We have some concerns of course.  Our main concern is Ebba.  She's seven years old and kind of a bitch (not in the dog way).  We never really socialized Ebba with other dogs and she's not a fan of children.  We kinda feel bad for Ebba.  She lived with us in Illinois for the first two years we had her and then the poor little doggens had a pretty unstable life, back and forth between Florida for a year and Mississippi.  I think it was a little better for her when I lived in Vicksburg and could visit her every weekend.

Nooooowwwwww, we've moved her to Colorado.  She seems to be extremely happy to have her little family back together, although she does seem a little bored.  She LOVES sitting on the balcony and watching all the other dogs in the apartment neighborhood go by, like she's ruling over her domain.

We're just super worried that she won't like a new doggens running around, disrupting her peace and quiet, and turning her new little word upside down.

Even with all of the concerns, we've decided to move ahead.  We debated breeds for a couple months, lab, golden, husky, lab, husky, malamute, lab, husky.  Searching for breeders with pups at the right timing and somewhat fitting our budget helped decide what kind of doggens we were going to add to our home.

We were seriously considering a lab, but it didn't look like it was going to work out, so we started researching Huskies a little more.  That's when I found Elizabeth with Progressive K9 Training and Kennels.  I started emailing her, trying to ask all the right questions (like are there any available???) to see if it was even possible for us to get a puppy.

After emailing back and forth with Elizabeth, and after Ed talked with her on the phone, we decided to pull the trigger. We picked out a puppy!  and sent in the deposit.  There were so many little puppies to choose from.  Of course, we were looking for male and it turns out the options were wide open.  We narrowed it down to three.

The breeder had these guys named (in order) Offbeat, Nisbit, and Nero.  It took a lot of consideration and emailing back and forth with Elizabeth, asking her questions about their personalities.  We eventually decided on Nisbit.  Here are the pictures we've gotten of him since we made the decision.

Annnnnnd yes, he is peeing in that last photo.  That's our puppy!

The next order os business is picking out a name.  Ebba's full name is Mighty Miss Ebba Jean Lucille.  Mighty Miss - for the Mississippi River, Ebba - something German, Jean - my best friend's middle name, Lucille - a reference to a Waylon Jenning's song, "Lucille, you won't do your daddy's will," because she's stubborn.

So we're trying to come up with something just as meaningful as Ebba's full name.  So far we have Atticus Stark.  Atticus for the lawyer in one of our favorite books, To Kill a Mockingbird. Stark is both a German word meaning big/strong and a literary reference to a series of Ed's favorite books, Game of Thrones.

Even though Atticus Stark seems kind of final, we don't feel like the name is complete, so we're still working on it.  Suggestions?

Can't wait to meet the little guy at the end of the month!

On settling in….

So we are FINALLY getting settled in.  It’s starting to feel a lot more like we actually live here.  This past week Ed’s family came to visit.  So in order to prepare for them, we had to get a lot done.  Also, we were finally able to get some more furniture to help with storage and décor.  All but one piece of our “new” furniture was bought from Craig’s List.  The other piece was bought from a store I found via Craig’s List.

Here’s what we got:

A small dresser for Ed’s closet ($30)

Two accent chairs for the living room ($30, yes! for both!) 

China Cabinet ($50)

And the amazing antique dresser that we splurged on ($150)

Day Bed and brand new mattress ($200)

Even though our guest room and guest closet are acting as a storage unit right now because we still need bookshelves and to unpack a crap ton of boxes, we are definitely feeling more settled in.  So here’s what it looked like before Ed’s family arrived:

The view from the front door.

When you walk through the door, you have the washer/dryer immediately to your right and you can see some of the dining table, all of the kitchen, and into the living room and bedroom.

The Dining "Room"

When Ed's family came, they brought out other two chairs for the table...and you can see the china cabinet in the background of the dining area.  We plan to paint if some cool color and put some kind of design in the back of it.  It also has a light in it...hehe...kind of corny but cool.

The Kitchen

Just the standard apartment kitchen.  We think it's really nice.  But there's not much to do to it.  We did add two chairs to the island.  It's not actually meant to sit at, we don't' think, but we like to sit there.

The Photo Wall

Right between the kitchen and dining area, Ed and I made a photo wall.  Of course we have to change the pictures around and at some art.  We've actually added some cookbooks to the top of it already (one more unpacked box! YAY!)  And that is our awesome antique dresser.  We put the knobs back on it and cleaned it up a bit.  We still don't know yet if we want to paint or stain it, but we LOVE it!

The Living Room

So it's looking a little bare and cramped right now.  That's our new IKEA couch.  and you can see Ebba's bed on the right.  On the left if little big brother's bed (can't wait to get him!).  You can see one of our new chairs.  And even though that coffee table is not our style at all (if you look around, you can tell we don't really have ONE style) IT WAS FREE!.  I was thinking of maybe changing the legs on, painting it, and possibly adding some cool design on top.  I still can't believe that the two chairs were only 30$ for both!  We plan on recovering them in a funky fabric and painting them.

This is the rest of the living area.  We need to acquire/hang art, hang curtains, and just really figure it out a little more.  That sliding glass for leads to the patio.

The Master Bedroom

So the door next to the picture wall obviously heads into the master bedroom.  Not much to see here. Still need to hang some art and decorate a little, but it's pretty much set.

The Master Bath

Off the master bedroom, down a little hallway past the TWO walk in closets, is the master bath.  We added a little extra storage which has been really helpful....and behind that shower curtain is a ginormous tub (soaking tub?) that even Ed can enjoy!

Back through the living room and off the dining are is a little hallway that had a guest bath and a linen closet and leads to the guest bedroom.

So it kinda looks like crap.  We prepared it for Grammy and Karen to sleep in there while they were here.  We also bought a trundle to go under the daybed for extra comfort for guests.  It's not ideal for couples, but for having such a small space, we needed a space saving option, so it works for us.  notice that they also gave us the bedding for the daybed that they had.  We washed it and it's all good.  

Since Ed's family left, he has rearranged the room, moving his bike in with the indoor trainer and his weights.  So it's kind of man-ed up in there.

While Ed's family was here we did add a couple lamps.  They were on sale at Lowe's and since they aren't perfect for what I want (they are a nice style, wrong colors), I plan on spiffying them up a bit too. So if you're reading this post correctly, I have a lot of projects to do!

For those of you not keeping up on Facebook, you'll notice I mentioned little big brother.  I'll post on him later!