Two more kitchens...

Because I care. 

Super tiny, but quite lovely.  And bigger than our kitchen, anyway.

via Apartment Therapy

This one I just want.  Sigh.

via Apartment Therapy

Pretty House-Type Things

I have had a number of posts saved in my Google Reader for, oh, weeks now.  At least.  I've had them saved because when I read them, I thought, "Oh that is gorgeous! I must blog it!" and then never had the time to do so.  Since I'm home sick for the 3rd day in a row, I thought I'd finally get to that.  Here you go.  A bunch of pretty pictures of other people's homes.

I swear I've posted this picture, but I saw it on Young House Love and had to (re)share.  That porch!

Rebecca Woolf and her family just moved to a gorgeous house.  They have a backyard.  With this rad umbrella.

I love this.  via Apartment Therapy

It's a little cluttery, but I like it.  via Apartment Therapy

I don't know what those black and white stools are doing in this kitchen, but I like the rest of it. via Apartment Therapy

Martha Stewart and IKEA both make colanders like the ones hanging on this wall.  I want one of my own.  Maybe one in white and one in turquoise.  Alas, I have a perfectly fine (plastic) one already.  via Apartment Therapy

Aren't these little pots just adorable? I would use them to store grains or rice or oats or beans something.  via Apartment Therapy

You're welcome.

More sliver linings

The little pink roses on my birthday bouquet bloomed.

Please ignore the tissue box, and the bad quality of my camera phone.

I love my flowers.

Ups and Downs

As you might know, I am sick.  I admit, I am kind of a baby when I'm sick, but I really do feel like crap.  It started late Tuesday night, with a little tickle in my throat, and by Wednesday morning, it was a full-blown, hurts-to-even-think-about-swallowing sore throat.  By Thursday, we added in a stuffy head and runny nose.  I stayed home from work both days.  Last night, I hardly slept, and this morning, my head felt like it was detached from my body, but my throat was still totally in pain.  I went to work for a few hours this morning, but came home around noon and have been tearing through the tissue box steadily since then. Blowing my nose like it's my job.  You know the drill.  Chicken soup, Emergen-C, Advil Cold and Sinus.  These are my couch companions. And Ellen.  Oh Ellen, in 10 minutes you will entertain me for a solid hour, and for that, I am grateful.

I know I am rambling on and on, but I'm sick, so I can be forgiven for a little ramble here and there.  This is the week of crazyawesome, and while it has come to a screeching halt, I am focusing on getting healthy.  But wait, Kim!  Aren't you supposed to fly down to Los Angeles tonight for a wild bachelorette party weekend with one of your oldest and dearest friends?

Yes.  I was supposed to do that.  And until about 10 minutes ago, I was still considering it.  But after conversations with my mom, my doctor, my boyfriend, a "rational advice" friend, and the bachelorette herself, I've decided that I am too sick to fly and too sick to party.  This was not an easy decision to make.  I've known this lady for 14 years, and I really wanted to be at her bachelorette celebration.  I felt like a bad friend and a wimpy sicko for thinking I wasn't going to be up for partying.  I thought it was just me being weak.  But I realized that I sound (to quote the doctor, mom, and bachelorette) "like shit"  (see also: "horrible," "sick," and "awful"), and I feel that way too.  It probably would not have been good for anyone to have me around, covered in dirty tissues, bringing down the energy of the weekend.  Also, I've heard that alcohol and pseudoephedrine are not a good combination.   So, with a heavy heart, I canceled my flights.

What's that you say? Every cloud has a silver lining?  Why yes, it does.  Colette's bridal shower is next weekend, and I wasn't going to be able to attend because I couldn't fly down to LA two weeks in a row.  Thanks to Southwest Airlines being awesome, I was able to change my flights for a grand total of $14, and now I will be attending the bridal shower.  I feel better about missing the bachelorette weekend knowing I can still partake in the bridal shower festivities next week.  I hate being a last-minute cancellation; I know how frustrating it is to plan a party or event and have people back out at the last minute.  But sick is sick, and as Colette said (in knowingly-cheesy fashion), "if you don't have your health, you don't have anything."  So now I will take the weekend to get better and rest up and all that, and will emerge from this week of madness a healthy Kim.  Yay.

What an awful blog post - so "me me me" and "wah wah I'm sick wah wah".  Sorry.  It's my blog.  Sometimes I rant and rave about personal issues.  It happens.  I'm going to go feed my cold with more soup and maybe some chocolate birthday cake.

I'll put together a post of beautiful kitchens to post tomorrow to make things pretty again.

A little food.

Will and I have made some really tasty meals lately (and by lately, I mean 3-4 weeks ago).  We actually picked recipes out of a cookbook, went to the store for ingredients, and then came home and cooked.  I know it's not a novel concept or anything, but whenever we do it, it feels special.  Most nights, I whip something up out of whatever is in the house.  Meals are good, and healthy, and all that good stuff, but there's just something fun about the planning that goes into trying a new recipe.  I would love to do this more often, but the time it takes doesn't always make it possible.  If only there were more hours in the day, right? 

Some pictures, to inspire you, make you jealous, get you excited, or just to show off our pretty meals.

Arugula salad with oranges and fresh raspberry vinaigrette.  And crusty, delicious bread.

Spaghetti with mussels and homemade tomato sauce.  The mussels were a new treat; we'd only made them once, in cooking class.  Delicious.  Easy.  Awesome.

Breakfast a few weeks ago - it's nothing fancy, but it was so good I had to share.  Fried egg with parmesan, fresh bacon from the butcher, and roasted asparagus with pepper and lemon.  It looks so simple (and it was), but man was it delicious.

The Birthday Week

I wrote last week about this Crazy Week Of Awesomeness.  Well, it's Thursday, and I'm sick, but I'm trying to get better ASAP so I can jump back into crazy week time.  Thank goodness yesterday was a "day off" from the plans, and thank goodness for sick leave!  And for being able to check work email from home.  And for nice coworkers.  And for interns.  Thank goodness for all of these things.

I thought I'd share a little photo-recap of this crazy week so far, since it has been so wonderful (minus the sick).  From cake to concerts, it's been a good birthday week so far.  James Taylor's voice makes me tear up a little bit every time I hear him live, and Carole King is just...well...fantastic.

The new photo-caption feature on blogger is great, but it puts the photos in a weird white box.  Haven't decided if I like having the captions, or I like not having the white box around the pictures better.  For now, I'll try out the captions thing, even though it makes formatting kind of wonky.  As I type this, I have no idea what this post will really look like, since the "preview" feature doesn't accurately show you what the post will look like when published.  Sigh.

Anyway, birthday week pictures below the jump (because apparently I can insert a jump break)!

Ladies' Night!

I'm home sick today, so I thought I'd take the time to upload some pictures from my camera (finally), and try to get some photos up on this little blog that I have so been neglecting.  As sucky as it is to be sick (sore throat, stuffy head), at least my blog is getting a little love.  Silver lining?  I am even going to schedule a few posts to go up over the next few days when I know I will be away from the computer.  How's that for productive?  Also, I am going to take a nap.

And now...a belated post about Ladies' Night.  In mid-March, I got together with two friends from high school for a little girl time.  Drinks and a little meal and window-shopping at the gigantic mall in downtown San Francisco.  What else are three Valley Girls to do, right?  Sadly, the mall closed at 9pm.  On a Friday night.  Yeah.  We didn't have as much time to wander around gossiping and trying on silly things as girls are wont to do, but we had a nice time anyway.  Andrea, Jessica, I'm sorry it took me so long to post these photos!

Oh it's ladies' night, just ridin' the escalator...

Five story Nordstrom.  Oh San Francisco.

A little too close, but woo hoo ladies!

Mini creme brulees!  In chocolate and vanilla!  So good.

Crab dip and biscotti totally filled us up.  Yum yum.

I liked this picture.

Countertops

This is my dream countertop.  Yes, I have a dream countertop.  I am hugely nerdy.  But it's so pretty!!!  Click to enlarge...it's just lovely.  Wouldn't this just be awesome for a kitchen? My kitchen?  Someday?

Photo taken in the bathroom at Nordstrom at the SF mall.  Yeah, I took a picture of the countertop in the mall bathroom.  What of it?

Kitchen Cure? What's That?

You may remember that I was participating in that Kitchen Cure thing.  My last update was, oh, about two months ago.  Eep.  Rest assured, I have been keeping it going.  I haven't taken before and after pictures of everything, but I cleaned out the utensil drawer, and the baking-things cabinet that used to be simply overflowing.  We could certainly still use more space, but things fit just fine, and I feel better not having crazy duplicates (though sane duplicates are totally acceptable).  ;-)   Here are a few photos from the utensil drawer cleanse, just to give you a little idea.

The utensil drawer, before.  Disorganized, and not very pleasant.

I took everything out and lined it all up.  Kind of ridiculous how many duplicate items we had.  Did we really need THREE pasta spoons?  THREE slotted spoons?  Sigh.  We designated some of the cheap blue ones as "camping utensils" and put them with the camping supplies, but we got rid of several things as well.

The drawer, after.  Much tidier.  And because I know you'll ask, yes, we DO use the duplicate items we still have.  Sometimes you just need two spatulas at once.  Or you need to use  two 1/2 cup measuring cups at the same time.  Ok, we could probably get away with less, but we have room, and it works well for us for now.  Hoard hoard hoard!

Anyway,  The Cure has officially been over for months now, and I can't say that I passed with flying colors or anything, but I think I did a pretty good job.  It definitely got me thinking about my kitchen, and whether I need everything in it, and I do try to keep it clean and tidy and all that.  Just don't look now; it's kind of a disaster zone.  :)

Ok Crazytime Week Yes

There is a LOT going on in my life starting tomorrow.  Between family visiting and my birthday and concerts...well, it's just going to be crazytime!  Rather than write a big ole thing about it, I'm just going to list what's going on, because I am feeling a little bit overwhelmed by all the awesomeness that is about to occur.  In a good way.

• Saturday: clean the apartment, hang lights in the backyard (more to come on that), watch Penguins game, dinner with my family (sister, parents driving up from LA, other sister & her boyfriend driving up from Santa Cruz, cousin from SF) - one sister's bday was on Wed, mine is Mon, plus Mother's Day on Sunday...so...celebratory dinner!
• Sunday: little surprise Mother's Day activity (people who read this blog are involved, so cannot divulge yet), show my parents around the workplace, maybe go to an open house, go to Will's hockey game, dinner + ice cream at Fentons!
• Monday: work, small BBQ at our place for my birthday :-)  (for which we are hanging the lights, as the backyard has no lighting and would otherwise be very dark)
• Tuesday: work 1/2 day, massage, Carole King and James Taylor concert!!!
• Wednesday: work, no after work plans (it's the only "day off" so there will probably be sleeping)
• Thursday: work, food tasting for Reed's wedding (yum yum - did I mention they're coming into town too?), Sonny Rollins concert
• Friday: work, fly down to LA
• Saturday: day 1 of Colette's bachelorette weekend
• Sunday: day 2 of Colette's bachelorette weekend, fly back to Berkeley, Ben Folds concert

And then, I will probably collapse in bed for a long time. Or I'll go back to work on Monday.  Yeah, that's what I'll do.  But THEN I will sleep!

23andMe - Sample Received

I got an email this morning notifying me that 23andMe has received my spit sample.  There probably won't be any updates on this for a while, but in approximately 6-8 weeks, I will probably have my mind blown.  That is all.

Comcast Update

It has been over a year since my last update in the Comcast Saga, and an update is definitely overdue.  So here goes.  Last time I wrote, Comcast Angel Raul had reduced the bill from around $115/month to around $75/month.  I was thrilled.  Life was good.  I was told that this was a permanent change, and that life could go on happily.  This was in January of 2009.  In January of 2010, I found out that I had been sadly misinformed.


The bill for January was back up at $115.  I voiced my frustration on Twitter (my new favorite way to lament issues to customer service reps), and immediately received a response from Detreon.  Per his request, I emailed the details of the trouble (below).

"Back in January of last year, I spoke with a representative on the phone (Raul, in the cancellations department) who gave me a discounted rate ($68 a month, pre-taxes) on my internet and phone service.  My bill went from being approximately $115 a month (which I could not afford) to approximately $75 a month (more affordable!).  I asked him multiple times if this was a promotional rate, if the rate would eventually expire, etc. and each time he said no.  His exact words were, "Well, it's not a promotional rate because we're not promoting it."  He said this would permanently lower my monthly bill, and that it would never expire.

This month, I received my bill for $114.38, and when I contacted the billing department, I was told that my previous rate was a 12-month promotion.  According to Customer Service Agent Rowena, there was nothing she could do because my promotion had ended.

Needless to say, I am incredibly disappointed with this news.  Our Comcast service has not been stellar, especially since the digital upgrade (multiple outages, switching between digital channels is very slow, frequent pixellation, frequently dropped internet), and I do not feel it is worth $115 a month.  At this point, I am starting to research alternate cable/internet options.

I don't know why I was misinformed, but like I said, it is a big disappointment."

His response was:

"Unfortunately, the representative you spoke with provided mis-information and for this I apologize. I have asked that our regional office look into why you were not provided with accurate information and the representative you spoke with will be coached. In terms of pricing, we were able to lock you in a second 12 month promotion for cable service at $39.99 and a 6 month promotion for internet at $24.99. This does not excuse the poor service that you received, but I do believe it is a step in the right direction."

So this is where we stand now.  We have cable for $39.99 for the rest of the year, and internet for $24.99 for another few months (at which point it will go up to about $50 a month).  It is very frustrating that service is not more affordable, and that (like nearly every person I've talked to about this) we just keep looking for ways to hook into promotions and special deals, and complain to customer service until our rates are (temporarily) lowered.  I don't understand why cable companies charge so much (ok, I do, it's because they can).  And every other place I've looked (DirectTV, DishNetwork, etc) is the same, so it's not worth dealing with the hassle to switch.  You can get the "low price" for a year, and then your rate nearly doubles.  We'd like to try out ATT U-Verse, because we've heard good things about it, and its DVR seems better than TiVo (as much as I love TiVo and its cute little mascot).

Anyway, there it is.  An update.

Delicious Kitchen Accessories

via Apartment Therapy

23andMe, continued

I came home for lunch the other day, and found a lovely little package from 23andMe on my doorstep. 

I knew the time had come for my saliva sample, but since you have to avoid eating or drinking for 30 minutes before you do it, I decided to wait until I got home from work.  Lucky you though, you don't have to wait for my photojournalistic recap.   Because It.  Starts.  Right.  Now.

Yes, folks, that is a test tube fitted with a little spit funnel.  And yes, I made sure to provide enough saliva to meet the fill line.

When you close the lid on the spit funnel thing, it releases a magical liquid that turns your saliva into mystical genetic-revealing ooze.  Ok, just kidding.  Maybe it's just some sort of clear liquid and I have no idea what it does.  But it's supposed to be there.  Anyway, you remove the funnel and replace it with the "small cap" (it was a pretty average-sized cap, if you ask me).  Then you shake.  For 5 seconds.  It didn't say to shake vigorously, but really, is there any other way to shake? 

Once your spit-magical-liquid is nice and bubbly, you put it in the Specimen Bag.  Because it is now officially a Specimen.  Requiring a Bag.  The bag has a little piece of tissue that says "keep in bag", though I have no idea why.  The bag is also labeled "biohazard", which I can only take to mean that the liquid in the funnel lid is somehow hazardous, cause y'all know my saliva is pretty standard issue.  Maybe you didn't know that.  Maybe this has been way too much information about my spit.  Oh well; it's my blog.

After you take your now-biohazardous saliva and place it in the aforementioned Specimen Bag, you place said bag in the postage pre-paid return envelope.  It's tiny and padded and kind of adorable, if I'm being completely honest.  Seal the envelope and drop it in the mail and you're all done!

The whole thing from opening the box to sealing the envelope took about 5 minutes.  It was kind of fun, and I can't wait to get my results!

Did anyone out there get a test of their own?  Have you done something similar in the past?  Are you madly, insanely jealous and hoping that next year on DNA Day, they offer the same deal?

I thought so.  :)

It's DNA Day! Special offer from 23 and Me (4/23/10 only)

Apparently today is DNA Day, and in honor of this special holiday, the Genetics/Ancestry testing company 23 and Me (founded by the wife of Google founder Sergey Brin) is offering a crazy ridiculous deal on their services.  I was thinking about getting my DNA tested before, but I couldn't justify the hefty pricetag...with this deal, I might just do it.

They are offering their Complete Edition (includes both the Ancestry and Health Editions) for $99.00 - regularly priced at $499!  That's a $400 savings, people!  It's not like I have an extra $99 lying around, but this is something I have been interested in doing ever since I heard about it a few years ago...and something I'd be willing to spend $99 on, I think.

Go to https://www.23andme.com/store/ for more information (limit 10 per person; offer only good TODAY, April 23rd, 2010, in honor of DNA day).

What do you think?  Will you be buying?


UPDATE:  5:25pm, the sale has ended, I bought mine.  I was still on the fence, and saw this tweet from 23andMe and realized I didn't want to miss out.  Thank goodness they started following me, and that I followed them back, or I wouldn't have made it!  I'll post an update about this whole genome thing when I get my saliva kit ;-)

Earth Day, light and airy

It's Earth Day, and yesterday was Administrative Professionals Day, and yet all I have to offer you is this picture of a gorgeous kitchen.  It does feel like a sort of appropriate kitchen for Earth Day, what with all the natural light and flowers and just bright and cheeriness.  Regardless, it will have to suffice, and hopefully soon I will get my blogging self back in gear.  :)

via Apartment Therapy, as usual

I'm a dork

Let me preface this by saying that I am a giant dork.  Ok, now that that's out of the way...I noticed a cool Google logo thing today, and thought I'd blog about it on the off chance that someone else thinks it's cool too.  Or knows why it's so.

The Google Chrome browser has an option for "incognito" browsing. I was browsing all incognito style recently, and noticed that the Google homepage logo looked different.  I couldn't figure out what it was...was it crisper?  More bevel-embossed?  Just for kicks (and because I am a super sleuth), I checked it out in a normal Chrome browser window, and it looked all same-as-usual.  It then clicked: the incognito browser window has no shadow!  Is this because it's so incognito, it doesn't create a shadow? Eh? Eh? Maybe?  That's my theory behind the design choice.  Though that doesn't explain the brighter colors, and lighter (and not-underlined) hyperlinks to the right of and below the search box.  Also, incognito logo doesn't have the little "TM" trademark sign.  Gosh, this is like one of those "find 10 things that are different about these two pictures" games.

A comparative analysis below.  Because I was worried that it was a fluke and was going to go away, I took screenshots and slapped them into a picture.  Check check.  Or try incognito browsing for yourself and see the difference live and in your face.  I'm hoping one of my Google buddies will read this and leave a comment about the different faces of www.google.com.

Yes, Please

Photo via Young House Love. 

PS - I love/hate YHL...Ok, I don't hate. I'm just jealous. How can anyone's life be that (seemingly) perfect? They are those DIY-ers you love to hate, I suppose...but their DIY home improvements are so ridiculously awesome, that I can't help but just wish I could have their house.  Are there any style/home/life bloggers that you can't stand* because you totally want to be them?

*by "can't stand" I obviously mean read religiously and follow on Twitter, and share with friends and wish I could be.  Obvi.

Spring Flowers

I bought these ready-to-blossom flowers last week, because I just love when flowers bloom in the apartment.  Makes me all happy.

Remember when this blog was about knitting?

When I first started this blog, I wrote about knitting a lot.  And funny story, I actually used my knit lunch bag today, on the day I will finally blog again about something I've knitted.  No kidding.  PS - I just realized that I never shared the finished bag, avec lovely star button (that I don't actually use as a button, because that buttonhole would just be annoying).  So here ya go.  The bag. 

The lovely Miss Keira was my bag model, which actually ties in nicely with today's post about knitting.  Keira recently became a big sister, which inspired me to bust out my circular needles and learn how to make a little baby hat. Of course, my first attempt resulted in the tiniest hat known to mankind, which ended up being more doll-sized than baby-sized.  Perhaps (and this is just a guess) I have underestimated the size of a newborn baby's head.  Did you know that their heads are actually not all that tiny when they come out?  Terrifying.

I digress.  After teeny babydoll hat, I tried again...resulting in about 1" of twisted, mobius-y gigantor that would definitely have been too big for Baby.  I decided to invest in some slightly larger yarn, and use slightly larger needles, since um, I was frustrated and wanted to try again with something that wouldn't take quite so long.  I didn't want to venture in to the scary land of Double Pointed Needles, so I stretched that thing as far as it would go on my 16" Size 10 Circulars.  The result? The hat you see below on the left.

It was almost big enough to fit me.  My head is slightly larger than the head of Miss Baby, but I had extra yarn and tried again, casting on about half as many stitches.  The result?  An adorable pair of hats, perfect for Big Sis and Lil Sis to wear together.  And by golly, these hats better fit those girls! :-)

Actually, I made three hats in the last week.  Baby is getting 2 hats, because baby yarn is ridiculously soft and adorable.  I may have bought 4 different skeins of baby yarn. Attention friends: if you are pregnant, or recently had a baby, expect to receive a baby hat.  I might be obsessed.

I got an amazing deal on a set of DPNs on Amazon (5 DPNs in 13 sizes for $21.99!), and figured I'd brave the DPN knitting on the smaller hat...smaller hat = more difficult to stretch out on the circulars.  And you know what?  It wasn't awful.  I made a little mistake when making the pastel hat (it was my first try), and used 3 DPNs total instead of 3 for the stitches and a 4th to stitch with, but you can't even tell.  See?

Thanks to Crazy Aunt Purl for her awesome tutorial.  Also, see this one about decreasing stitches.  She is hilarious, and is one of the main reasons I am not afraid of DPNs.  After finishing off the pastel hat, I finished off the bright baby hat, this time using the correct number of DPNs.  Wow.  That was way easier.  I might even say that I love doing this now.  It's pretty awesome, and I really like pulling the yarn through the stitches at the end to finish it off - there's something satisfying about pulling it all together (literally) like it's a drawstring bag.  Super!  No fear!

Wow, totally scary!!!

I'm totally doing it!!

Another Scam!

We saw another "too good to be true" listing on Craigslist, and sure enough, the response to my inquiry email reeks of scamminess.  It's very similar to the other scam-listing, actually.  My favorite parts are in bold.  Yikes.  I was kind of disappointed to see that it had already been flagged.  I totally wanted to flag it.

Hi,

Thanks for the email. My name is Collins Comb the owner of the 1 Bedroom Condo you are making enquiry of, Its still available for immediate possession. The rent includes all utilities such as : - all furnishings - linens- tableware-  cooking utensils- water- heat- internet- basic cable TV etc Options and extras:- off-street  parking / garage (2 cars) - electricity- phone- digital or HD TV.Presently am out of the country to cover some story of African History in West Africa countries like: Sudan, Ghana and Nigeria, and others but presently in Nigeria. I'm a TV News  correspondant. This is a very big task but I have to do it, all the documents to the property and keys are in safe hand here with me. we are looking for a responsible person that can take a very good care of it for us, as we are not after the money for the rent but want it to be clean all the time and the possible tenant will see the Condo as his or her own.

Here is the Condo address:2600 Ashby Ave #1, Berkeley CA 94705 ...Ready for immediate move-in!You can drive down there to take a look at it...i will be willing to rent my Condo out for the maximum of 5 years and below.I personally had wanted to sell the Condo earlier on.But after long time deliberation between me and my wife Elizabeth we finally agreed on renting out the Condo, because it was initially to be sold. But I really want you to take good care of the Condo, as if it were your own Condo.

I will be online through out to get back to you as soon as you are able to get back to me. I would want to know how soon you would want to move in, as I will be taking a 1 or 2-month upfront payment which mean the first and last months you will be staying in the Condo including some utilities (Electricity, Water, Internet, Heat and Garbage). I am asking for $1536 For 2 month upfront payment Or $768 for 1 month upfront payment and I believe we should be able to help ourselves. including utilities because I want you to take a very good care of the Condo while I am away.

Because due to my present location. Is not possible for you to view the interior of the place when i have the keys and the document with me here in africa..I am looking forward to hear from you ASAP so i will like you to go ahead and fill out the rent application form so that will can proceed further and discuss on how to get the  the keys and papers sent to you via Dhl or ups e.t.c, also are you ready to rent it now or when?.So here is the Rent Application Form Below..

                                             =========  RENT APPLICATION FORM ============

                                                                PRIVATE & CONFIDENTIAL

Also,Pls answer these questions below:

1)Your Full Name______________________________________

2)Present Address(where you reside now) & Phone Number______________________________

 3)How old are you _____________________________

4)Are you married ______________________________ _____

5)How many people will be living in the Condo___________________________

6)Do you have a pet _________________________________________

7)Do you have a car __________________________________________

8)Occupation _________________________________________________

9)How long are you willing to stay _________________________________________

10)When do you intend to move in _________________________________________

11)1 month Or 2 month deposit needed ______________________________________

12) Pictures of all the Occupant that will stay in my Condo______________________________________

Pet allows.

I will use the information above to prepare the rental agreement , rent receipts and other documents. Make sure the correct information is type.Do reply with your both cell & home number i am going to call you if your application form has been accepted or call me after filling the rental application form. A package containing the housing documents, property address with full description. Inlcuding the direction to the place and keys will be ship to you once you both agreed with the term and condition. Call me once you fill out the application form.Here is my contact number: +2348028713386 or 0112348028713386....i will be expecting your call to know how serious you are in renting my Condo

 Thanks & God Bless

Nook

"Nook" is one of my favorite words; it's just so cozy and comforting somehow.  From that nook I slide into on the couch when I'm falling asleep as we watch TV, to that perfect little nook on his shoulder when he puts his arm around me, to that private, secret reading nook that we all dream about in our "someday I will have a perfect home" dreams...nooks are happy and wonderful places indeed.

Which brings me to the breakfast nook.  Ah yes, one of the most famous of all nooks.  A series of breakfast nooks was posted on Apartment Therapy last week, so I thought I'd share a few of my favorites.  Click here to see the original article.

And now, if you'll excuse me, it's cold and rainy here in Berkeley, and there's a little couch nook all decked out with a down comforter, whispering my name.

Can't help it

I'm sorry - I really do have pictures of my own to post on this blog o mine, but things have been busy, and I haven't been able to get them all up on my computer and edited and such.  So for now, please enjoy this (hot damn it's pretty) kitchen.  Via Apartment Therapy.

The Old Man is Snoring

The current weather in Berkeley, according to my Gmail theme.  It is absolutely accurate.

Pretty Tile and Another Dreamy Kitchen

I don't normally like things that are uneven, asymmetrical, or otherwise "jaggedy," but I do love the way this shower tile looks.   I think that grout would be a pain in the butt to keep clean though...I'm so torn!  It looks so nice!  Maybe it could be sealed with some sort of lacquer or something so it could be cleaned more easily or something.  Anyway, it's pretty.  via Apartment Therapy

This kitchen is so bright and cheery!  I love the turquoise island, of course, but I also love the brightly colored colander, vases, etc...and the cabinets, and that cake stand on the counter.  via Apartment Therapy

Also Called "National Fun Day"

I don't have any sort of elaborate April Fools' Post planned...I'm not usually one for the "OMG WE ARE ENGAGED JUST KIDDING APRIL FOOLS" type of posts (hello, Facebook? Did you send out a memo telling everyone to post fake engagement announcements this year? sigh), and I am generally gullible when it comes to April Fools' Day anyway.  Around 6:30am this morning, Will woke up suddenly, saying "Oh Crap! Oh Crap!"  I thought he was talking in his sleep, and mumbled, "agwugwethr what's wrong? asfoasfijasf" (or something like that).  "OH CRAP IT'S 9:45!!"   "What?!"   "Ha, ha. April Fools."    "argh. I'm going back to bed."

I do, however, love (love love) when companies get in on the fun.  Google (erm, Topeka) is usually the winner (for complexity, follow through, and commitment!), but this year, Whole Foods had some great stuff up too.  So did Southwest.

Anyway, because I love Google and all its awesomeness, here's a look at some of my favorite Google April Fools' Hoaxes, past and present.

• The Google Toilet Internet Service Provider
• Google Romance 
• Jobs on the Moon
• Pigeon Rank (Will always joked that this is what I was doing when I worked there)
• Google Reader Advantage
• 3-D Google Maps

Kitchen Envy

It's been a while since I HouseLusted (well, on here anyway. I lust after places in my life all the time - see here), but this photo was too gorgeous not to share.  Who wouldn't want a kitchen like that?  My kitchen island is like the little baby cousin of that island, by the way...someday, I will have a kitchen large enough for it to serve its intended purpose, instead of being squashed in the corner of the living room.

Want.

(via Apartment Therapy)

My Mind Has Been Officially Blown

I love Photoshop.  Use it for work.  Use it for fun.  Love it.  I'm no expert user or anything (far from it), but my mind was just blown by this new feature (not yet launched).  Content Aware Fill, you are amazing.

That just about sums it up.