I officially registered the domain “darlinrae.com.” I love my little blog, and I felt like it was the right time to make things a little more official. I’ve never intended to make this a “serious” blog or make money from it, but it just feels nice to remove the “wordpress” from the name, and I plan to spiff a few things up to have a more cohesive theme going on.
Tomorrow is my birthday! And it should be another good one. I have the VT Respite House Jiggety Jog 5k in the morning (it’s not too late to make a last-minute donation here!), and then we’ll be having my 4th annual Cinco de Mayo-themed birthday party.
And last but not least… we got an apartment! It’s small, but very clean and cool. It’s in a converted elementary school building, so it’s got huge windows and vaulted ceilings! It’s also a 10 minute walk from my office, and very close to the bike path, the lake, the beach, and great shops and restaurants. We sign our lease on Monday, and move in June first! We are so excited to have our own place again after almost two years of having room mates or living with our parents.
Who’s got some tips for apartment decorating on a budget?
Happy birthday!!! Awesome to spend it running a race 🙂 Hmmm, apartment decorating…I like to use Pottery Barn as my inspiration and then try to make/buy the look I like cheaper – like at a Marshall’s Home Goods or something. I always find great deals there!
There’s a TJ Maxx and a Homegoods right around the corner from our new place–perfect!
Happy Birthday!!!! Congrats on the domain, and the apt. I love thrift shopping for stuff for my house. Check your area and see if there is a store called “New uses” around. That, and search for higher end consignment shops!
Great tips, thanks! There’s a Goodwill close by, which could be useful in a pinch.
😉
Well WOOHOOO! I give major thumbs up to all of these, and a giant HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Super excited for you on all accounts 😀
Thanks, Susie! It’s been a good week 🙂
Happy Birthday! And congrats on the apartment! That’s so exciting 😀
Thank you! We are super stoked. Of course, now we have to move all of our crap, haha!
Happy birthday to my younger birthday twin. Have a great race. Congrats on the apt.
Thank you! Happy birthday right back, and enjoy your races this weekend 🙂
Happy almost Birthday!! I wish craigslist was better around here for apartment decorating, I scour Resource VT on Pine St constantly. Plus (sad day) Creative Habitat is going out of business so I’ve found a bunch of little stuff there recently!
I know I was so surprised and sad to see that they’re closing 😦
So much awesome in one post! Happy birthday! And congrats on the apartment hunting!
Thank you! We’re very happy 😀
OMG U R OLD! 🙂
Happy Birthday! So much exciting stuff – glad you grabbed your domain, great weather for a fun birthday, and so cool you guys got an apartment!
My three tips based on our first apartment:
1. Beg – I was going to make the song reference for ‘ain’t too proud to beg’ but I realized that no one else commenting was born yet … 😉
2. Borrow – if it is something you know you’ll need eventually, see if you can arrange to borrow.
3. Steal – see under-utilized stuff around friends and family homes? Take it off people’s hands. Not literally ‘steal’ … but you’d be surprised how often people have that one thing they plan to get rid of that will work.
We had a great apartment full of stuff that we were able to then hand off when we were done with it 🙂
Bahaha, yes, I’m super old now… Might as well give up 😉 All great tips. We’ve also gotten pretty good at “road scores” over the year–picking up unwanted or unused items that are in good condition. Just gotta watch out for bedbugs. *shiver*
Happy birthday! And congrats on the domain and apartment! 🙂
Thank you! It’s been a great week 🙂
Happy birthday!! And congrats on the apartment! An old school building sounds cool. I like to shop at antique / country stores for stuff. Sometimes there are great things to find.
I agree. My parents are super into thrifting/antiquing, so that’s usually my first stop 🙂
Happy birthday!
And Pinterest was a life saver decorating my condo; with enough browsing, you can find some pretty simple/cost effective ideas that really make a difference :0)
I love Pinterest! It’s so dangerous though… I spend WAY too much time on there.
Whoa you have some awesome things going on! Happy birthday and congrats on the blog and the apartment! It sounds lovely!
Thank you! I’ll have to post some pictures once we’re settled in.
Happy belated birthday!! And congrats on the new place!! Do you have any Christmas Tree Shoppes up there? Drew and I definitely hit it up when we were looking to furnish our place.
We do–I love that place! Ben’s not a super huge fan, but I’ll drag him there anyway 😉
Drew doesn’t like it much either… I usually have to drag him too! But he can’t deny that we got awesome curtains, lamps, wall art, etc. for wicked cheap! 🙂