Monday, July 26, 2010

Apartment (and City) Dwelling: Part 2

The Living Room:

Okay, so...the arrangement on the wall leaves a little to be desired, I realize. The 'C' is crooked, but since I am planning on painting it anyway, I just left it there. I really like the frames, but want to grow the picture arrangement. I can't decide if I want to keep the frames uniform or use all different ones. Thoughts?

Here, (in the picture below) I am standing in front of our sliding-glass patio door with the HIDEOUS, giant vertical blinds...whatever those are called. No one liked those 30 years ago, no one likes them now! Why do they still use those?! Anyways, one of my first projects will be to make a curtain to hide those babies.
Behind the chair I'd like to get a floor lamp, and on the other side a small side table just big enough to set your glass on. I'm thinking I will do some garage sale hunting for items like that. This blog has been inspiring me lately.

On City Dwelling:

One of the very first things I noticed about The Woodlands culture, was that all the soccer moms wear their workout clothes all over town. Literally, the first time I went to the library, every single mom in that story time was wearing spandex. With make-up. And hair done. Now, I have been known to where a comfy yoga pant around town, myself, but that's not because I've actually been doing yoga, it's just because I find them comfortable and I'm probably behind on laundry. But here, these women are wearing their workout clothes because they have actually worked out. It immediately made feel pressure to hit the gym. Haven't really gone yet, but it's definitely on my mind. I'm sure I will give into the peer-pressure any day now. ;)

Also, I am finding one of my fears in returning to suburbia, is indeed, proving to be a challenge. In Brenham, I stopped going out and eating out as much because there just wasn't anywhere to go. I learned to go to the park rather than the mall. I learned to have friends over for dinner rather than meet at a restaurant. (Although, we were no strangers to El Charro T.) But, here I do feel this pull to go out and consume. Target is 3 minutes away. It's amazing how little convincing I need to get in my car and go get something I "need," (plus an impulse buy or two). Yes...spending is easier here. I don't like it. I mean...I do, but that's the problem, isn't it?

2 comments:

Alex & Tonya said...

That is definately a HUGE challenge being in Houston -- esp. for Mom's I think. (not from experience, but from what I have seen) Just be prepared to say "no" when you need to. Alex and I tend to budget every penny we spend -- if we buy things its because we have budgeted for them. We avoid almost all impulse spending -- but it definately involves the word N.O. Glad you are adjusting.

mandi said...

I vote for all different frames. Add some variety!

Everything looks great!

And about the spending...It was always really hard for me to live in suburbia. I would get bored and escape to Target. But that never made me happy. I just felt bad for spending money on stuff that I didn't need. Then, God moved us out into the country for about a year, and taught me great concepts of simplicity. And it was a relief. I think it is such a gift that God brought you here and did some pruning, in the past year especially, in regards to spending. Hold tight to those lessons learned, friend! You can do this. You can do this! : )

I bet the Woodlands has some killer garage sales, btw!