Golden Doodles

I really can't think of anything cuter than golden doodles. They're a mix between golden retrievers and poodles and they just look so happy and soft and bouncy and puffy! I'm sad to say I don't know any personally, but I've heard they're really sweet. I could look at photos of them all day and there's lots of cuties on flickr.com:

Such a cute snout!

I think they like snow.

I'm pretty sure this one is shaking.

Furry eyes.

They even like swimming!

So windy.

Such a puffy head.

I love this face.

And this one too!

The puppies are so cute.Look at the curly hair!

Living Room Updates

The living room has needed some attention for a long time now and today I finally started to make some progress. Mom, Sarah, and I had a lovely trip to Ikea and I bought two lamps and curtains. Mom and I made the rest of the curtains in the apartment, but I still like these because they're nice and simple. They will need some alterations because they're super long and the tabs are a little long too. Here's one of the windows:

I had wanted a floor lamp for a long time and I think Ikea is the best place I've found for them because they have cool lampshades and they're inexpensive, of course. Sarah found this lampshade for me:

I like it because it's simple and soft-looking but still has interesting touches. I also got this pretty little flower orb lamp:
It has such a nice glow. Everything made the living room look much different and I'm very excited about it. But with white curtains and white lamps, I really feel like I need to add some color and I think I'll do it with some art prints. My latest idea is to have a "country wall" and a "city wall" on either side of the room. I think it sort of fits my personality. :) I ordered a few prints from Etsy tonight. This one, by an artist named Andrew Daniel, is for the country wall:

This one, by Sweetbabu, is for the city wall:

I think they both look really cheerful and I can't wait until they come. I'll keep you updated on how they look in the living room. Good night!

New Deal Fish Market

I'm so lucky to live around the corner from the New Deal Fish Market! I had been interested in it since I noticed delicious looking fish in the windows on my walks home from work. Later, I was pleasantly surprised to find out it's Best of Boston, which made it even more interesting. About a month ago I decided to eat only healthy food (well mostly) and I love fish so I finally decided to try it out. Since then I've been shopping there at least twice a week! I've had haddock, cusk, shrimp, salmon, and striped bass so far. Everything has been super fresh and delicious. They have a great variety and when I get more brave I'm going to try as many kinds as possible. They're also really willing to give suggestions and cooking advice, which is great for me since I only just started cooking fish. Aside from fresh seafood, they also have a grocery section of spices, sauces, pastas, and almost anything else that would go with fish.

Tonight Raf and I are having salmon (from the New Deal Fish Market, of course). Here's the before picture:

And after:

Yum!

By the way, have you heard of these snack packs of edamame?

Wacky, but convenient. :)

Paper Light Switch Plates

These paper light switch plates were one of my recent decorating projects in the apartment. It really fun, easy, and inexpensive. The paper is from Paper Source. They have so many cool paper patterns it was really hard to choose just a few! I had wanted to make light switch plates out of the paper, and I thought I would just have to glue it on a plain plate, but when we went to the store Mom found these clear plastic kinds. I think they're meant for wall paper, but they were perfect for my project. All we had to do was cut out the paper and snap the whole thing into place on the wall. Here are the plates we did on a few of the light switches/outlets in the apartment:
This is in the office/guest room. I love the pattern. My uncle says he has a tie just like it. It must be a cool tie. I don't know why the switch is missing. It's one of those weird apartment things.

This one is to match the red kitchen. I like how the design isn't centered, but I didn't do it on purpose.

The red kitchen. I might write a whole post about this room later. I think the red outlet plate looks great in here. Mom wants me to do the rest of the switch plates in the kitchen the same way, but I'm still making up my mind. You never know when you're going to find another cool one, and I don't want to run out of places to put them.

We did two in the bedroom. I love how they look, especially since the paper has glitter on it. This room still needs a lot of decorating, but at least these are a start. I messed up a little on the light switch. I hope it's not too noticeable because I don't feel like fixing it! haha.
I like the bedroom because it's so calm and relaxing. I'm going to write about the afghan later too because I love it.

I love the Paper Source paper and I'm trying to think of more ways to use it around the apartment. I'm planning on making picture frames, but I haven't had time to do it yet or find cool black and white pictures to put in them. I think they'd have to be black and white since the paper is so colorful, but I could change my mind. I'm thinking about framing a mirror in it too. I'll let you know when/if I ever do it.

While I was writing this I realized a lamp shade might be cool too.... I wonder how I could do that. If you think of any other ideas let me know!

Paper Light Switch Plates

I love blogs! :)

I know blogs have been around for a long time now, but I've only recently realized how interesting they can be! I'm always looking for new stuff to read on the internet and blogs have opened up so many new options for me. It's cool how they can be about all different topics, and sometimes I never know what I'll enjoy. One blog I've been reading lately is Meghan McCain's blog, McCainBlogette.com. Even though I'm not voting for her dad, it's cool to read about her and her life on the campaign trail. It's sort of like watching The West Wing. I particularly liked her posts about New Hampshire.

I recently discovered design blogs and I've become obsessed! I love decorating my apartment and finding cool new places to shop, so these blogs are perfect for me. It all started when I read an article on Boston.com by Holly Becker and happened to click on the link to her blog, decor8.blogspot.com. She writes about tons of decorating ideas (many are inexpensive), and cool places to shop. Plus, she lives in Hollis, New Hampshire so there's lots of references to the Boston area. On decor8 there's a list of links to design blogs written all over the world and so many of them are super fun to read!

I think the best part about blogs is that anyone can have one. Like when my friend Rose rode her bike across the country, I could read about her progress the entire way. Her blog is http://www.greencycling.com/. I can't wait to find more interesting blogs to read, and I love having my own blog. I'm always thinking about stuff to write about now and it's fun to figure out how to do all the html stuff (it must be my engineering side)! If anyone has any blog recommendations please let me know!