Before and After

I have taken a few pictures along the way of how the apartment is coming along, so I thought I would post the before and after shots of one room just to give you an idea of what a difference all our work has made.



This is the bathroom (as you can probably tell). Mom removed all the gross paint stuff and wall paper and replaced the sink with a vanity. And voila!


white paint above... sponge painting below... so much better!

On Paint and the Past

For those of you, who have been wondering where in the world I have been for the past several weeks... well, I have been kinda busy sanding, painting, and generally fixing up my parents' rental apartment. I have had a lot of time to think (it's impossible to talk with sanders going, so I was pretty much stuck with just my own thoughts). While I was sanding one of the doorways, the layers of paint chipped away, and beneath the beige, white, off-white, green, and white (in that order) paint, there was a beautiful, polyurathaned wood. I couldn't help but wonder what IDIOT would cover that gorgeous wood with PAINT?!?!?!? It got me thinking about how often that happens in real life. Generations never appreciate the one before it. In an effort to write their own history, they tend to try erasing the one prior. Once several generations have passed, eventually someone digs up the history and can appreciate what once was. Sometimes they take the time to remove the falsehood and mystery that recent history used to shroud the past, but more often than not, they are unwilling to put in the time and effort it would take to return to the way things were - to a time of honor and honesty, when men worked for a living and a person's word was his bond. Instead they just slop on their own shade of paint - pretend they never saw that glimpse from the past - that it doesn't exist.
Now, I am not saying that all history is good history or that all paint should never be painted over, but it is important to know what has been, before moving forward into what will be.

General Update

Life is insane. It is official. All summer I have been running around (limited to travel withing the continental US, but running nonetheless). I have one more weekend booked and then I think I have some chill time coming up (of course, that could change at a moment's notice). I have lived in my "new" apartment for over 5 months now and FINALLY just got around to painting my room this past weekend (it looks FABULOUS, btw). Next up is the bathroom. That is NOT going to be fun since whoever did it last must have been drunk at the time. It needs to be sanded down and all that. It should take a little while. Plus, I have to be careful not to get paint on the tiling around the shower.

Along with painting, I also spent my weekend gallavanting around NYC and going to a Switchfoot/Third Day/Jars of Clay concert in NJ. You may ask "how does she do it?" What can I say, some people are just born AWESOME! =P I will post pictures as soon as the internet comes back up in my apartment. I don't know what the deal is...? it has been all kinds of jacked up since Saturday.

I ran a 10k with my roommate... it took me an hour, which I did not think was bad (for a self-proclaimed non-runner), but I did come in 46th out of 55 (thank you, Air Force! Someone's gotta pull up the rear! =]).

This week I begin Arabic classes, paint all the molding in my room and hopefully start on the bathroom. I have a flag football game on Saturday morning and a wedding that afternoon (I'm hoping to escape without any bruises so I can look all cute in my sexy little black dress). Besides that, I don't think I have anything else going on. I plan to spend more time with my guitar as I have neglected it a little this last week. I am also going to make dinner at least one night this week. My roommate has been doing better than I have with the whole cooking thing lately. It's just hard... with all that has been going on, food is not a priority. I have learned that protein shakes are a girl's best friend. =P

And there you have it... an update on my life. =)