Surround Sound

Chris loves his technology. He does it at work, and lucky for me, he does it at home too. Even when we lived in an one room studio (two if you count the bathroom I guess, but I don't), he wired the place for surround sound. Before it was easy though because we couldn't drill into the walls - the result was a messier look with visible wires, but a simple project. 

But now we own and he was determined to hide the wires. I got my first lesson in snaking wires as he fed them up from the basement to the wall behind the couch. He was frustrated, but I actually thought it was going to be way worse than it was. No matter now though, its done. And the finished product pictures (right and left):

And a big group shot:

And Chris is thoroughly enjoying his hard work already.

Blinded by the Light

Victories of Victories! Finally, after oh, about 7 months of living here we got blinds for the large picture window in the Living Room. Here is an old picture of the day we got the couches:

So yea, that huge window in the room we spend just about the most time in. I get that these things are important, but I it wasn't really a priority for us. I love the amount of light that this window brings in and such. But now it is cold, and not so bright out - it was time that the blinds reached the top of the to-do list. I didn't realize how difficult it is to find blinds for windows. It took us two Home Depots and a Lowes to finally get the blinds:

Notice the viewing spot for Lucy. We picked cordless cellular blinds. This allows us to adjust them just by pulling down or lifting up - without any messy cords (awesome for dogs and children). The cellular part has the nice bonus of insulating the window a bit more. We also opted for non-blackout. This allows for the light to come through and since we aren't sleeping in this room, blackout isn't important to us. 

This room is coming along, but curtains are on our list...as are blinds for the other windows...

Doing Lucy's Love of the Rug Justice

Last week, I raved about the new rug and how much Lucy is enjoying the new rug. Looking back on it, I don't think I did a good job communicating how much she is really is loving it. So now for the supplemental pictures:

It provides a comfy place to guard the toys. This is a must in the world of grumpy wiener dogs. Sometimes she is just too good to snuggle on the couch. hehe. 

I think more importantly to Lucy is the rug has increased the fun of tug and fetch because it provides her some traction unlike the hardwood floors. Evening the playing field for the 10 pound pup.

Yea, she even looks pitiful when slaying fluffy hedgehogs...the hard life of a hound dog. 

Crate and Barrel...My Blush with Luxury

I find almost everything at Crate and Barrel to be gorgeous. It is like grown-up Ikea. It has the clean mid-century modern vibe but without the dorm-room feel...oh and sadly, without the dorm room price. We went looking for things we still haven't been able to track down, that coffee table, storage, oh and little luxuries, like a dining room table. 

They had lots of tables, both coffee and dining, that I think would have looked great. There was only one problem, the price. No surprises there, but it is always nice to look - to get ideas - then to try and find something similar at Ikea later, hehe. 

I thought there was nothing we could afford, but low and behold, a super duper sale on just what we needed (storage - although not the kind my mother will be super happy about - sorry mom). This little cutie with the clean modern lines and space saving wall mount was just under twenty dollars - which makes it in my budget. 

Chris was able to mount it the same day (a record in this household) in the dining room on the small wall between it and the kitchen. This is perfect because I am not sure what else we possibly could have done with that small, rather awkward space. Chris isn't totally sold on it, saying it looks a bit awkward, but I think it is cool looking - and lets face it, if I like it, it's staying (although that might have more to do with that it would be more work to take down than that I am in charge around here....but we will just go with the later).

So now we have a fancy wine rack (and a mirror) in the dining room - practically finished if you ask me. Oh and it is always nice that the value of the wine exceeds that of the rack (if only by a few dollars), the epitome of living large.

Additions to the Living Room

So life has been pretty crazy lately. School is ramping up again and the projects are getting harder and harder (no work has been done on that awful wall paper). So let me apologize for the lack of posts, I'll keep trying.

So we did manage to do a bit more in the Living Room in terms of decorating. Since we took out all of the carpet, Lucy has been quite upset about it. She enjoys digging and rolling in the carpet and this was limited to the Master Bedroom. Well that is no more. We picked up this fluffy guy at Ikea. Although he is a bit whiter than would be ideal for this room, it does make the room look more finished. But more importantly, Lucy now has somewhere to roll and dig on the main floor:

And yea, I still have not refinished the Kidney Bean table and despite looking for the perfect coffee table nothing is up to our standards (and down to our budget)...yet, I am holding out hope that we will meet the perfect coffee table and ride off into the sunset together. 

Also in the Living Room, we (mostly Chris) finally hung up the picture we picked up at Ikea months ago:

It is centered above the couch and features five sketches by Picasso (or so Ikea tells me). There is a flamingo, chick, horse, and more importantly a penguin. Oh, and the center one is titled "Sausage Dog." Winning!

I Love Lucy

I guess I have gotten to the point of being a crazy dachshund lady because a larger percentage of my Christmas gifts this year have been Lucy/dachshund themed...And I love them. One of the most creative ones was from Jenna:

It is a canvas of Lucy that fit perfectly in the frame that was left over from the headboard ideas. We have been really slow about hanging up stuff around the house (like ridiculously slow), but this one went up in record time. I found the perfect sized wall in the hall into my study:

It is the perfect width for this sized frame and this hallway needs some love. Now for the after:

Perfect if you ask me. Thanks again Jenna - Lucy and I love it. 

Committed! A Half Marathon

So I have been running more regularly, especially since I found a group of other runners at my medical school. We have been running about twice a week and over 4 miles the last two times. We are even going running tomorrow. This makes me excited about running all over again and it is helping me keep my new years resolution to take better care of myself. 

Well, I recently decided to join the bandwagon and set a running goal. Along with quite a few of my peers, I signed up for the Rutger's Unite Half Marathon. 

So there is 13.1 miles somewhere in my future, April 21st to be exact. So while Chris will not be joining me as there is neither puppies nor soldiers involved, I will have plenty of company. There is still plenty of time to train and make sure that this race is enjoyable. Wish me luck!

Medical School Update: Renal and Endocrine

We took our Cardiopulmonary exam on December 21st and were already back at school on January 2nd. That was a short break, but I'm only complaining a little. I really enjoy school and learning new things, so other than the fact that school is cutting into my sleeping and leisure reading time, I'm happy to be back.

Another gift on our first day back was our grades for Cardiopulmonary. The class did well, although our means were lower than normal, but more importantly I PASSED! Whoo, 100% personal pass rate so far. Unlike many of my classmates, I really enjoyed the topic and found it really interesting how your body systems compensate for changes. 

But now that is over and it is on to new things...more specifically Renal and Endocrine. Three days of classes so far and I have decided that I am already sick of the kidney...j/k. Those silly organs do a lot more than I thought, so while I am not as excited about this unit as the last, I think that it can only get better. So it is back to studying for the next exam, which is soon! There are only three short weeks between now and then.