I finally took some pictures of our newly painted living room and bedroom:

Then, Apartmenttherapy posted about my Living Room… twice! in one day!

It was pretty exciting:

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/la/look/look-challenging-space-great-room-065218

http://www.unplggd.com/unplggd/flickr-finds/flickr-finds-modern-and-minimal-living-room-065198

And now I have something like 250 views on each picture which is a little… strange.  Either way, the posts waere very flattering and most people had nice things to say!  I couldn’t agree more with the criticism on the living room rug though – I’d love to replace it if I can ever figure out what I want to replace it with.  As for the “outdated window treatments” well, you try blocking out the blinding sun from a stretch of 5 windows, 17 feet across.  In a rental.  Without getting custom shades.  yeah.

I found the cake I want to make for Victoria’s wedding:

Photo is from Kimberly Hurst’s flickr (a lovely wedding photog from Long Island whose photos/blog I love stalking, er, checking out

 Its simple, its round, its elegant, its beautiful!  Sold.

Victoria set the date for October 25th.  I’m still not sure how many guests but lets just say 100.  And, last time I was at home my Mom offered to help because (duh) I forgot my mom was a super awesome cake decorator and baker.  I think between the two of us and borrowing my grandmom’s kitchenaid mixer we’ll be able to pull it off.

I am pissed.

I’m pretty serious about this Vet thing now and have been trying to figure out how exactly I can do it.  I really don’t want to start my bachelors degree over again.  I also make a lot of money at my job and really can’t afford to quit it and go to school full time.  So, I made a list of all the classes I need as pre-requisites for the two programs I know I want to apply to, UPenn and Cornell.  Here they are:

Bio100
Bio101
Bio230 (Microbiology)
Bio300 (Biochemistry
Chem100
Chem101
Chem120 (Organic Chem)
Chem222 (Organic Chem)
Math150 (Calc)
Physics101
Physics110
Stat750 (Biostatistics)

Lets forget for a minute that the above course listing probably isn’t even possible…  There are about 4 classes you are supposed to take inbetween Bio101 and Bio230.  Problem is, I only need these very specific classes and I don’t want to spend 4 more years of full time study taking every Bio and Chem class inbetween.  sigh.

Plus, I also need to take Algebra since its a prequisite at Hunter for Calc.  In my head I thought, “oh, I’ll take Bio100 and Algebra this semester to start things off and see how it goes.”  That would have worked if a)Hunter’s online registration hadn’t crapped out on me and now all the labs are full and b)Algebra is a prerequisite of Bio100!  Awesome.  I even went to talk to this really nice guy in the Bio department and he was going to squeeze me into a lab… but thats not even going to work because I haven’t taken Algebra yet.  Lets not think about the fact that I took Algebra twice in High school.  That doesn’t matter, obviously.

So.  I decide to TRY not to freak out and figure I’ll take Algebra and a french class (oh yeah I need four of those too) this fall and go from there.  It sucks that Bio100 is only offered in the fall but maybe I could take it at another CUNY school that isn’t so rediculous?  Or maybe I’d do my Physics and Stat classes before the Bio… it sucks but I’ll have to figure it out. 

THEN.  Hunter online registration won’t even let me register for Algebra.  There are ZERO prequisite classes listed for Algebra.  It says something about a placement test or entrance/exit exam.  What the hell does that mean.  I took a basic Math class at BCCC so in my opinion that should suffice as a prequisite to Algebra… I mean how more basic can you get??  I called the registrar’s office to ask and SURPRISE SURPRISE the person I spoke to had absolutely no idea what I was talking about.  He mentioned I’d have to take some sort of placement exam maybe but that I should call Student Services and the Math Dept.  No answer at either line.

I think my real problem is that when I transferred to Hunter a whole bunch (basically ALL) of my credits transferred incorrectly.  My Math class is one of those.  My US History I and US History II classes transferred in as electives!  It was if they had a trained monkey look at my transcripts.  They really couldn’t have done a worse job.  I talked to an Academic Advisor my first semester and while he sort of explained the GER (Gen-eds) requirements he said I’d have to go to each individual department to get the credits switched to real classes.  Hey guess what, I work full time!  I haven’t even been able to declare my History major properly yet because the History Advisors office hours are Thursdays from 2pm-3pm. 

I am at such a loss right now.  There are supposedly three academic advisors on-call in the Advising office today after five so I will scoot over there to see if any of them can tell me what the hell I should do at this point. 

 I enjoy school but I really don’t want to go forever.  I just want to do these pre-requisites has quickly as possible because then I have another FOUR YEARS of full time school ahead of me for my doctorate.  And if I have to talk to another person in an administrative office at Hunter College I will probably gouge my eyes out.

That is all.

Two posts in one day? Crazy, I know.

As I mentioned before, Andrew’s sister is having a baby (I think she is due sometime in early March).

She’s also getting married!  I thiiink they might try to do it soon (before she starts to show), hopefully in the next two months so it’ll most likely be a quickly planned, small, probably casual affair. 

I offered to make the cake and I am so pumped!  After reading Deb over at smittenkitchen’s account of making a seriously gorgeous wedding cake I feel like I can do it.  Mine will (hopefully) be smaller and simpler (no chocolate ganash or mango curd filling, thank you) but I am really looking forward to this! 

First things first I need to find out how many people will be at this shindig.  Then I need to know if they want round or square, what flavor cake, what sort of icing and filling, decoration, etc…  Without talking to them at all (she just said yes, oh, two days ago) I’m thinking simple.  I know I can pull up a bitching chocolate or buttermilk cake recipe off of the SK site, or even something slightly fancier like a lemon curd?  I am also pretty excited to try SK’s swiss buttercream icing recipe!  Hopefully she’ll like simple decorations too like dots or a ribbon of some sort at the base of the layers.  Basically, this is just an excuse for me to bake pretty cakes and try out new recipes.  I looove to bake but with just Andrew and I at home I always end up feeling like a fatty for eating too much of my concoctions. 

Did you know that most wedding cakes are FUGLY?? Geeze. I just spent nearly 30 minutes looking for a decent picture.  This is what I’m thinking of except minus the gross daisies on top and replace with pretty flowers and minus the lame “rope” icing border replaced with bigger dots.  It looks small but these are three layer cakes and deceptively feed a ton of people.

For about the 87th time, I am possibly changing my career plans.  Its not a definite yet (and won’t be for quite some time), its just an idea I’ve been playing around with and researching.

The idea? Veterinarian.

Pros:
-I am obssessed with animals.  Obsessed. 
-I cannot walk past a stray cat or kitten on the street without stopping and trying to scoop them up.  If I was a vet I feel like I would be more able to help them get their shots and find good homes.
-I think in general, animals are almost always better than people.
-This would most definitely be a job I would want to go to every day.
-Scrubs are incredibly comfortable.
-I could wear sneakers every day.
-I would get to wear a doctor coat and people would CALL ME DOCTOR. sweet!
-If I could somehow manage to get into Cornell I’d have my doctorate from an Ivy League school.
-As much as I hate to admit it, I’m not THAT far into my bachelor’s degree.  Going to school at night, part-time is not easy but it does give me the time to switch my focus.

Cons:
-Vet School is expensive.  Cornell’s DVM program would run me over $100,000 for 4-years of tuition alone.  That is not even including housing, food, books, etc.  There are/must be financial aid but I need to look into it.
-Vet school is HARD.  Four years of hard hard work. 
-There are only 28 DVM programs in the United States. 
-Vet schools are extremely selective, only about 2,100 students graduate each year with DVM degrees.
-It is harder to get into Vet school than it is Med school.  No lie.
-Vet schools primarily accept in-state residents.  New York’s only program is at Cornell which accepts 15-20% of applicants.
-I am not a science major.  It is possible to major in another area and still have my pre-req’s but I have a whole bunch of bio and chem classes to take.

So, that is where I’m at right now. 

This all started when I saw a teeny tiny orange and white kitten outside our train stop last week.  He was hiding under some cars in about the same spot as I found our black stray, Fred Hampton.  I kneeled down but the little guy was scared and ran away.  Of course I ran across the street to the corner deli and bought him a can of food but I could not stop thinking about the little guy.  Poor Andrew had to be “the bad guy” and tell me no, we cannot afford another cat nor do we have the room.  I didn’t even want to keep him!  I just wanted to get him healthy and off the street and foster him until I could find a good home.  Unfortunately I don’t have an extra $300 laying around.  (Plus if he has fleas or mites then we’re also subjecting out three cats to that as well, in a one-bedroom apartment its not easy to quarantine cats).  So it was just a whole big mess and I was thoroughly bummed out.  My mom jokingly made the veterinarian suggestion when I called her later to pout.  It just makes sense though… I have always loved animals to the point that my friends MAKE FUN of me. 

I wouldn’t just have to be a Vet in private practice either.  I could work with exotic animals or at the zoo.  There are SO many possibilites! 

I’m think I’m going to try and take Bio 101 next semester and see how I do.  If it goes well I’ll try and talk to the advisor in that dept and see what he thinks.  Hunter actually has a really excellent pre-health program which could work in my favor. 

In closing, this could be me:

I have so many projects on my mind right now I need to take stock and “write” them down somewhere!

First off, Andrew’s sister Victoria, is pregnant.  While it was quite a shock for everyone, now we’re really excited!  Andrew is sooo pumped to be an uncle and he loves babies.  I am currently getting excited to knit the new babe all sorts of things! Baby blankets, baby sweater, booties, softies, the list is endless.  Baby stuff is SO much fun to knit I can’t wait to get started. 

Some ideas I have so far:

Softies! I have a few patterns for knitted teddy bears but the possibilities are ENDLESS.  Polar bears, rabbits, pandas, raccoons, monkeys, you name it.  The above image is from the blog, little cotton rabbits and while Jill doesn’t provide her patterns (she sells the toys in her etsy store) I love looking at her photos.  Such inspiration!

Another idea from Jill’s blog:

These are teeny tiny toys from Jill’s page of free patterns.  Wouldn’t these be cute dangling from a homemade mobile?

Then of course we have baby sweaters.  I hear baby sweaters are fun to knit because they’re tiny and don’t take too long!  That seems right up my alley since I get bored easily with project.  Some ideas:

Both images are from Debbie Bliss’ Baby Cashmerino IIbook of patterns.  Debbie bliss rules.  I’m sure this is a well known fact among knitters but her patterns are so lovely.  I love the baby sweaters she has but of course there are a million patterns out there, probably some for free even   I knitted myself a bubble-gum pink mitten (yes, just one. need to finish that…) from her cashmerino yarn and it was a dream to touch.  So soft and cozy. 

The possibilities of knitting a baby blanket are endless as well.  I knitted Jillian (my cousin) a cotton, basket-weave baby blanket before she was born and it turned out quite nicely if I do say so myself.  Looking back I wish I had done some sort of lace, crocheted edge to finish it off but I also didn’t know how to crochet then

Other random projects on my mind right now that don’t relate to babies:

Tiny knitted Stockings from Little Cotton Rabbits Free Patterns.
Would be perfect as Christmas gifts.

February Lady Sweater from Flint Knits.
This sweater scares the bajeesus out of me but its SO PRETTY.

The Babette Blanket from Interweave magazine via Purlbee.com
Bought the pattern, just learned how to crochet the square. 
Am I crazy for wanting to make a huge blanket in July?

Alrighty, I think that’s about it.  I also have a vest pattern I think would look cute in shiny goldenrod cotton yarn and a neat sleeveless top pattern that a woman gave me at work.  Its nice looking and has what appears to be a rather interesting cabled piece up the front but I don’t know if I would actually wear it.  Besides all that, I should probably finish up my dad’s wool socks I started for him LAST CHRISTMAS.  eep.

Am I actually going to start writing in this again? Maybe?

We’ll see how it goes.  I originally created this to keep up with my Spring ‘08 AT Cure but it just got to be too much.  I was super busy with school and it because easier to update my Flickr and keep up that way.  So, we’ll see.  While I am on break from school right now, I have a summer class starting up on the 12th so I am making no promises. 

This is going to be an apartment post

Things are going smashingly with the apartment right now.  I scored an amazing vintage Paul McCobb coffee table off ebay for way below the 1st dibs pricetag of $995.  I am in love with it.  I just realized I never took a picture of it in the living room but here is the seller’s photo:

Lovely, isn’t it?  It definitely makes the living room look like a proper living room now. 

In other living room news, I made Andrew drive me to the upper west side this week to pick up ANOTHER table we probably didn’t need.  I found it on the AT Classifieds and couldn’t pass it up.  It was listed as a side table (which we could use) but its definitely more of a small coffee table size.  Its a vintage Lane peice and has that neat dovetailing that so many Lane peices have. 

Please pay no attention to the cords, and overall disheveled-ness of out entertainment center!  Did I mention that this table was $40!?  Its in great condition too.  I rubbed it down with some olive oil and lemon juice and it is really shiny now.

One more living room thing.  We have a hideous floor lamp right now that leans like nobody’s business.  I tried to screw it in more and it came clear off the base! Its a mess.  To be fair, it was about $20 at Ikea and has moved with us a few times now so… its time has come.  I finally bit the bullet and bought a really nice, new floor lamp that should be arriving today!

I can’t wait!  Its adjustable too which I think might come in handy.  Who knew floor lamps were so expensive, anyway?  This baby was about $70 with tax and shipping which was a GREAT price compared to everything else I looked at.  I also like that the shade is so neutral.  When I (re)paint the living room walls a darker beige/gray I think it’ll look great!

And one last thing… I won an awesome vaccuum cleaner the other day.  I entered one of ApartmentTherapy’s thursday giveaways and out of 705 people I got picked!  Its an Electrolux Ergorapido 2-in-1 Sweeper so its very lightweight and for hard floors, not carpet.  Good thing thats just what I needed!  It arrived yesterday and it. is. amazing.  I just did a quick 5 minute sweep of the floors last night with it and I am amazed at how good they look.  With three cats, we have a LOT of cat hair blowing around.  My go-to before was to just sweep it all up.  Obviously that didn’t happen very often since it takes both time and physical energy.  The Ergorapido on the other hand is so light and sleek it makes vaccuuming FUN.  I know, it sounds crazy.  The head rotates all around too so its very easy to get into tight places without moving the furniture.  After using it last night I couldn’t believe I didn’t get one these things sooner.  Although, its a good thing I didn’t I suppose so I then I wouldn’t have won it

okay, thats all for now! Maybe soon I’ll post something not-apartment related…

Last week was crrrraaazzzyy for me (midterms, going away for the weekend) but I’m happy to say that I have caught up!

things accomplished:

Clean the kitchen
     -organized the cabinets (this didn’t amount to much since I keep my cabinets pretty ship-shape)
     -cleaned countertops
     -cleaned stove (for the first time in months! yuck)
     -found a home for the new waffle maker
     -cleared things out I don’t use (like the expresso machine that I’ll try to sell online)

Buy a water filter – already had this! We would die without our filter, we drink a ton of water.

Make use of Outbox – done.

Buy fresh flowers – rununkulas!

Watering can courtesy of Ikea. 
Handpainted chairs courtesy of boyfriend’s crafty grandmother

Determine your style – We took the style survey last time around and it was pretty fun.  I might classify our style as “mid-century vintage classy thrift ecclectic”  Yup. basically I just buy whatever I love and see how the room evolves. 

Cook at home – I do this all the time (okay okay, a little less since this semester started) and made a yummy pasta dish last week: alfredo sauce, fettucini, turkey meatballs and brocolli. 

and now some pictures of my lovely clean kitche:

Why yes, I purposely cropped out my sink of dirty dishes   Dishes are boyfriends job.

a CLEAN stove!  Black stoves are so hard to keep clean!!
Complaints aside, I love the stove because it is brand spanking new.  Dish towel is from Ikea, print from Etsy, and spoon rest glazed by moi.

I love all my counter space (almost unheard of in NYC rental). 
I also love the brand new fridge.

Its week one so here I am about to post my progres….

Okay, not that much to report.  I didn’t get flowers (I needed the cash in my wallet to tip my hairdresser on saturday!) and I didn’t sweep the floors like I planned to.  I got my hair cut on Saturday (which takes 4ish hours plus travel time), did a bit of much needed clothing shoping and today I did massive amounts of food shopping.  Food shopping definitely improves my apartment because it makes me want to be here and cook here.  I also bought fancy flavored coffee and brand new sheets at Marshalls today and I am pumped.  The sheets are high thread count and really pretty icey blue. 

Week one you are supposed to list repairs that need to be done to the “bones” of your apartment.  Repair-wise the only thing that needs to be done is the bathroom ceiling.  We had some water damage a few weeks back and the pipe has been repaired and the giant hole has been spackled over but it still needs to be sanded and painted.  Boyfriend has a paper to write in the begining of this week but after that I will call management to have that done (hopefully on friday!). 

You are also supposed to remove one item in week one.  Again, I am cheating.  I plan on removing out god awful desk chair but there’s no way I’m doing that until I buy a new one.  The new one is sorta pricey.  So, after I save a bit and buy the new chair I will toss this one.  I promise.

I sat for ten minutes in the corner blue chair in our living room.  This is usually the kitty cat’s chair but it was nice to sit in for a while.  Its a wonderfully comfy chair for its age but since its right next to the balcony door there is a draft.  If we didn’t rent I would totally replace that shitty door.  I’ve been thinking about getting some sort of panel for the window though so we’ll see about that.

At target I bought new method dish detergent.  It smells nice and the bottle is adorable.  woo!

Here is my to-do list for the cure:

Dining Room
chair cushions
cafe curtains
new table

Living Room
new floor lamp
table for record player
new coffee table
Salon wall
basket for blankets
panel for balcony door

Office
new desk chair
Keep on top of mail each day
frame art
organize/purge books and magazinez
organize/purge coat closet
organize/purge linen closet

Bedroom
organize/purge hobby closet
organize/purge clothing closet
new lampshade
go through clothing
find and hang art above bed

Kitchen
organize cabinets
clean fridge

Bathroom
clean tub
organize medecine cabinet

The items in blue are things I definitely want to get accomplished during this cure.  I’d like to get everything done but I don’t want to get discouraged if I don’t have the $$ for a new coffee table or run out of time. 

I have two midterms this week that I am freeeaaaking out about.  I think after those are done on Wednesday I will have more time to think about and do this cure.