what's on your desk?

Something I'm getting used to at my new job is sitting at a desk.
In all the jobs I've had in the past, I've always been on my feet. My very first job was working as an art instructor at one of those paint-your-own-pottery stores (it was kind of the best job ever). I listened to Norah Jones all day and ran around making sure none of the kids ate paint or stuck anything up their nose. In college, I hopped back and forth between different bakeries & cafes. As nice as it would have been to make bread and cappuccinos while sitting on a couch, my shifts were always spent on the move.

Now, a good part of my day is spent behind a desk (don't get me wrong, it's a great desk). The only real downside is that I have terrible posture, so by the end of the day I come home looking like a troll - all hunched over and bent in half. J has been threatening to tape a board to my spine so that I'll learn to sit up straight. (It's a work in progress)

The upside to having a desk is getting to decorate the desk (obviously!). Right now my desk is pretty bare. The only thing it has to show for itself is a jar of pens and a few lonely paper clips. It needs some serious TLC. Naturally, I plan on magically transforming it overnight into something like this or this or this. Since this is where I'll be spending most of my time, I might as well make it pretty - agreed? Agreed.

Any suggestions? What's on your desk?

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for the love of white

White space. Are you a fan? 

If I had it my way, my apartment would be a giant sea of white. 

Ideally, you would walk in my front door and instantly be blinded by white walls and white furniture. Nothing says home sweet home like a nice, sterile asylum - am I right? There would be white cabinets in the kitchen, white linens in the bathroom, and white picture frames on the walls. I would sleep on a big cloud of white pillows and sheets and eat my Cheerios out of white ceramic bowls. Actually, scratch that. I would only eat white food! I would be on a popcorn and milk diet only. 

Ahem. 

Oddly enough, J doesn't share my enthusiasm for living in an asylum. 

Slowly but surely we've been trying to turn our apartment into a home, but lately we can't seem to agree on a style. He wants big, bold colors - and lots of them. I want lots of white, open space. According to J, white is boring and unwelcoming. He thinks white space = wasted space. It's usually at this point in the conversation that I jump off the couch and shout, Au contraire! (and then I challenge him to a duel) To me, white space has a very simple kind of charm. After a long day I want to come home to a place that feels calm and clean and elegant. Well. Let's be honest. After a long day, what I really want to come home to is a day spa. Maybe that's why I'm such a fan of all the white? 

And so begins The Great Debate! Whose side are you on? 

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on decorating my first nyc apartment

If there's one thing I love, it's interior design.

Along with being a famous pianist, a published author, a professional florist, and a world renowned cake-taster, one thing I would love to be is an interior designer. My ideal Saturday would be spent wandering around Pottery Barn, picking out paint chips at Home Depot, and watching back-to-back episodes of 'Love it or List It'. Sometimes J has to come in and physically unglue my eyeballs from my Home Decor boards before I forget what day it is.

To slowly be able to turn a house (or apartment) into a home is one of my favorite things to do. Of course, I never want to slowly turn it into a home. I want to do it all in one day - quick! buy the furniture! pick out the art! paint the walls! - so that, come dinnertime, I can feel like I'm nestled into my own little Anthropologie catalog.

Having our own apartment feels so good.
We looked at a bunch of different apartments before we found this one, and it was the only place that felt like home right when we walked in the door. Amazingly, it's not the closet-under-the-stairs that we were both prepared to live in. It's small, but big enough for me to do cartwheels in the living room (which is typically how I measure the size of any room). We have hardwood floors, lots of light, and a fire escape outside our window which clearly signifies that I am now a true New Yorker.

While we haven't been able to do everything in one day, we've definitely made some progress in the decorating department. Thanks to my best friend in the whole world (IKEA), we are now the proud owners of a coffee table, a dresser, and a kitchen island. We are also the proud parents of four new houseplants! This apartment is basically bursting with pride.

Oh! And speaking of pride, I am also the proud owner of my very own orange kitchen (!!!). My dream finally came true! Last week, I came home after a long day at my internship with sore feet and a dangerous, ravenous need for Chinese take-out, only to discover that J had painted our entire kitchen from top to bottom. That guy. Hunger was quickly replaced with lots of squealing and jumping up and down. It looks so good! Once we get a few things hung up on the walls, I'll snap some photos.

We have successfully unpacked all four of the boxes we moved in with (thank you, thank you), so right now all the artwork I brought over from Oregon is lined up neatly along the floor of our living room, begging to be hung. I'm getting anxious, but J insists that we wait until we paint. We must wait to paint! We're experimenting with one turquoise wall in our bedroom, and maybe a gray and yellow living room?

The options really are endless.

image via bleubird