mountains beyond mountains

jacket and necklace: Anthropologie; shirt: Forever 21;

YO! Only three more days of classes 'til spring break! Stoked! I'm not doing anything that exciting except maybe taking a trip to Parowan and my year-and-a-half anniversary with Ryan :) We're going to Forage and going to a ballet. Definitely expect a blog for that day! :)

I can feel the anticipation for April building up! Seeing my two favorite bands, Ryan's birthday, a wedding, the Deathly Hallows blu-ray, my mom coming up to help me paint my apartment, it's endless!

Speaking of my apartment, I rearranged the furniture this weekend. And every day I wake up and think "Why didn't I do this sooner?!" It's SO much more open, and I didn't even take out any furniture! It got me thinking about design more and more, and I've spent far too many hours in the last few days on Apartment Therapy. Here are some of my very favorites:











It's funny; no matter how much I say I love color, I guess I'm always drawn to more neutral rooms with subtle colors. I'm the same way with fashion too. I do love color, but colors that are found in the earth.

Also when it comes to design, I really like clean lines and the minimalist style but I'm also still extremely drawn to messy-ish bohemian sanctuaries. They seem almost opposites so it could be challenging to try to blend the two. I just want my apartment to be full of style, no matter what it is exactly. I want nobody to question that a design student lives there :)

independent living :)

I do not live alone. I live independently. I don't feel alone; I feel in tune with my own spirit and I'm growing more into myself every day. It's really all about the attitude you have. When I come home at night, I don't look at it like I'm coming home to an empty house; I see it as coming home to my sanctuary, my little haven that is all mine. Doesn't that sound wonderful? :)

So here's my list of the best parts of living independently!

1. Personalizing.

The VERY BEST thing about having your own place is getting to do whatever you want with it! I seriously have so much fun picking out things for my apartment. So much so that I can never decide on anything. I think everyone's home should be a totally immersive environment of themselves, so it's really fun for me to find things that match my personality. And if you don't have the money to deck out your place all on your own, then you have the whole place to yourself to make a mess for DIY projects. I plan on getting around to that. I'm going to paint the walls in my new place that I'm moving into on Tuesday.

2. Nobody judges you.

Sometimes I sleep until 2:00. (Rarely, but sometimes it happens.) Sometimes I listen to Taylor Swift. Sometimes I eat way too much ice cream. Sometimes I leave my dishes in the sink for a week. If I lived with anyone else, I would feel SO insecure about these things. But I don't! It's my life, and I don't feel judged for it.

3. Noise factor.

I can't tell you how many times during the school year last year, I was trying to write a research paper and all I can hear is Aaron Carter playing from my living room. For me, roommates = no. I like to study on campus or at coffee shops a lot of the time, but it's SO nice to know now that if I ever need a totally quiet place, my home is there. Also, I never get woken up in the morning by anything whatsoever. Ever. Not any roommates screaming, not my boyfriend playing music or video games, not my mom yelling at me for being lazy. It rules.

Sure, paying the bills all by yourself can suck, but to me, my sanity is priceless, and I absolutely love having my own place to myself :)


And I don't know how it gets better than this, you take my hand and drag me headfirst, fearless. <3

Laser Beam

First good day I had in a while! It started out rocky; I almost called in sick to work. But I sucked it up and decided it was worth going. And it ended up being a decent day of work! I started feeling less ill once I started working; not less tired, but less ill. I've been feeling so not myself lately.. I'm not sick, but I do feel like something's wrong. I feel narcoleptic and fatigued 24/7. I'm going to head to the doctor and do some blood tests hopefully this weekend. And hopefully I'm not working AS much next week. I think I just need to rest.

After work, Ryan and I went to Trio. It's a cute little Italian place. We had spaghetti, pizza, and goat cheese cheesecake and it was lovely. Reminded me of summertime when we went to a new place every day :)

Then we went to the super nice Starbucks by my work. For some reason they had for sale one of those couples books- where it asks questions and you and your significant other fill in answers. I always liked the idea of those, but every one that I've found has seemed kind of off and strange. (Especially that "All About Us" one. Seriously, if you answered all the questions in there, you'd probably end up breaking up.) But this one that Starbucks has, is amazing. It has a bunch of quotes about love that lead into the questions you answer. It's called "Two." I'm going to fill it all out first, then give it to Ryan and let him read it, then he'll fill it out and give it back to me. :) So cute!

We're also sending out Christmas cards to our families! Wow, it makes me feel like an adult.

And still speaking of Christmas:



So cute! I love Target Christmas stuff! Never mind that I couldn't agree less with the quote "Let it snow."

Apartment 2C take 2

My apartment that was supposed to be a sanctuary of pure femininity has somehow turned out looking like a boy's dorm room. But that's ok :) I just got a huge paycheck and I'm staying on the look out for girly little things to add to it. I also don't like the green and yellow scheme I got going. Kinda ugly. But that's what I have to work with right now :) I didn't even bother taking pictures of my bedroom because it's still basically just a room of boxes.



I don't know how I feel about this ottoman. It came with the two couches, and my mom thinks I should keep it, but.. mehhh. A coffee table would be more practical.



The walls are so bare! AH! Urban Outfitters has a really pretty GIRLY canvas print but it's like $100. Maybe next paycheck.

And since I have no bookshelf or wall shelves, the kitchen table is home for my books! And I love these vases soooooo much. Ryan got them for me from the wonderful consignment store in St. George that I can't think of the name of.



I'm also happy with how my little end table arrangement ended up. I bought this super cute lantern from Ikea, intending to hang it from the ceiling. But I kind of like this a lot. And this pineapple candle is to die for. From Z Galleries. And of course my favorite picture taken with my Diana :)



And lastly, I'm in love with my fridge! I'm putting up all my concert tickets, tickets to really good movies, and tickets to any other kind of shows (i.e. Mamma Mia!) I've been to plenty of other shows too, by the way.. I just haven't saved every single ticket haha. I believe the oldest one here is from July 2007. (Also notice the three Half-Blood Prince tickets!)






Tonight is actually probably the longest amount of time I've spent alone in my apartment just chilling. And it hasn't been one bit lonely! I have plenty to keep me occupied. (Cleaning, organizing, more cleaning...)

Happy weekend! Tomorrow I'm sleeping in then spending the day out with Ryan. Gettin myself a blu-ray player :)

we are restless and tired, sleeping with giants

As promised, here are shots of my new apartment. My blank slate :) I'm so excited. My parents are only here on Saturday to help me move by big things, so I only have that day to find a couch at DI. It made me kind of mad at first, but now I kind of like the idea! I like trying to be creative with limited material.

So this is from the doorway:



You can vaguely see my BEAUTIFUL end table I got from DI for $10. It's basically my only personal item in the apartment so far, other than some books I moved into the closet. I'm so in love with that table; it's 100% my style.

And basically from my bedroom doorway:



Look at that window! Oh I love it. Don't mind the bathroom door sitting in the middle of the kitchen; I don't.



My bedroom:



And the one wall in my bedroom:



I would rather it be actual brick color, rather than painted white, but I really love my brick wall. Also in my bedroom, somebody very visably wrote "Lex Luther 2010" on the window ledge haha, should have taken a picture of that. I'm going to add "Killjoys 2011."

And I have a radiator!



It's so cute! It's kind of inconveniently placed, but I don't know what would be a better place haha. The whole place is pretty cramped, but I love it. It has just enough room for all of my stuff. And the fact that it fits my queen size bed is good enough for me.

Kick-Ass arrived in my mailbox today, so time for that :)