the way we do it in manhattan

There are many things we do differently here than we did in Utah. Buying a couch is no exception. None of this "buy a couch, put it in your truck and take it home" business. No, we bought a couch in a box!

We ordered our couch online from Home Reserve, the perfect solution for tiny-apartment-dwellers like ourselves. The couch is mailed in two 50 pound boxes, and you assemble it yourself! So much easier than hauling full sized furniture up stairwells.



My wonderful husband hauled both boxes from the UPS store to our apt, six blocks and two flights of stairs, for which I am eternally grateful. He is also pretty good with a power drill, which is kinda hot.




Home Reserve was awesome. The couch was so easy to assemble; all the pieces are numbered. And they even give you these nice gloves so you don't get splinters in your hands!




Put together the frame, add the fabric covering, and voila!



A couch! And don't worry, despite the fact that it's made out of particle board, it is actually sturdy. And an added bonus: it has storage compartments under the cushions! Perfect for our small space. We are loving having our apartment come together. It feels so much more comfortable now. I'm so excited for it to be complete so I can take pictures and post them.

Speaking of our little apartment, I have a funny story. We always thought it was 450 square feet because thats what the previous residents always said. But when we measured the walls to calculate how much paint to buy, we made a shocking discovery! Our apartment is actually closer to 325 square feet!!! When Klane told me, for a moment I felt like the walls were closing in on me. "Oh my gosh, this apartment is so small! How can we live here?!" But then I realized we've loved it for months thinking it was 450, and it's actually still the same size (even though my perception has changed). So all is well. Kind of a funny realization though.

paint paint paint!!

Painting was so fun. And so exhausting! We started at 10:00 am and finally wrapped up around midnight. I'm waiting to post photos of the finished product until it's actually finished. The couch is coming this week, and hopefully soon we'll have some stuff to hang on the walls. So excited!

oh yes, this is happening.

if you give a mouse a cookie

I don't have a problem with mice. I think they're cute, actually. I just don't want to live with them. I don't want to share my food, or find their poop in my house.

A while ago Klane saw a mouse dash across the floor, but we hadn't seen or heard anything since then. Tonight I made cookies, and when I opened the drawer below the oven for a baking sheet, I found mouse droppings. On my baking sheet. No, no. Not okay. Right now we're listening to this noisy, incessant squeaking noise which we can't localize but which seems to be coming from behind the fridge... or maybe it's under the sink... or in the walls. I didn't know mice actually squeaked, repeatedly, for no reason at all. Apparently they do. There is a mouse-squeakin party going on in our walls.

We're going to buy traps.

new york is good for browsing

the apple store. amazing, beautiful design.


kids in a candy store


we really want one of these

A trip to Midtown today took us by the Apple store. Klane is like a kid in a candy store there. Too bad it's all quite a lot more costly than candy. It was fun to look around though, and the design of the store is so cool. The whole thing is just perfectly branded as Apple. We noticed employees discretely polishing random pillars and windows in the store, keeping everything sparkling clean. Very cool to see a brand identity so perfectly executed by a team dedicated to the Apple image. The entrance to the store is awesome too! The whole thing is definitely an experience.

We went to the Home Depot to look at paint colors and other homey things. We're getting excited to paint, as soon as we can make a final decision. I never knew there could be so many different shades and tints of light blue. I really love the East Side and Midtown, so it was fun walking around. Such a nice, clean area. Third Ave, where Home Depot is, isn't as touristy as 5th Ave, so it was nice to walk around sans crowds in the beautiful weather.

home improvement

All that's left to do is get a couch (we're waiting to see if we can survive without one...), hang new drapes and repaint the walls. We might leave the brown, but we're entertaining the thought of a really light blue instead of the teal and yellow... any suggestions from all you decor experts out there?

Klane faithfully building the dresser. Don't worry, I helped too.

cute little table and nightstand + free lamp from a friend :)

love this bookshelf, it has spaces that fit all our stuff perfectly!
I want to get cute baskets or boxes to go in some of the squares.

the kitchen and the gorgeous view from the kitchen window. :)

our new place!

Many of you already know, but we found the perfect apartment in New York. I am so excited. In all my searching I was only comparing other apartments to this one that I had seen on Naomi's well-known blog. When she announced she was moving I thought, if only they were leaving at the end of April, we could just take their apartment, and then when I found out they were subletting through April there was a spark of hope. We exchanged many emails, I got in touch with the rental company and voila! Perfect apartment!

photos courtesy of Naomi

Let me tell you why I love it.

Painted walls. Recently renovated. Exposed brick. Beautiful cabinetry. Stainless steel appliances. A dishwasher(!!!). Great location. Close to two parks (Morningside and Central Park). 2.7 miles from the temple. One block from subway station. Great ward.

I'm excited to move in and make it our own. Who knows, maybe we'll become rockstars...

Smoke...

We left our apartment tonight to take Justin birthday treats and returned ten minutes later to find three cop cars, an ambulance and a fire truck outside our apartment building. Huh? How did they all get there so fast? Anyway, apparently smoke was coming out of our neighbor's vents. This was about an hour ago and nothing has happened so we're assuming the building isn't burning down. There were firemen totally suited up, though, which was cool:

This experience caused us to take mental inventory of the things in our apartment and decide what we would grab if the building actually was burning down. Turned out to be mostly technology-related stuff: computers, the external hard drive, the Playstation, the TV... and some clothes. Oh and our wedding album. Call us vain but we decided to grab the things of most monetary value. (And isn't it great that with technology all your music/pictures/movies can be stored on one little portable device?) I'm sure our list of things to grab in a fire would've been quite different 50 years ago.

It made me realize that if there really had been a fire, we had never talked about what to do in the event of an emergency. I'm thinking a Family Home Evening is in order to discuss such things. Be prepared!

Today, I...

...listened to every song i have by The Weepies. Skipped working out on purpose, even though i had time. Read my latest favorite blog. Did some work and spent most of my day on a project I will describe below. Made enchiladas for Klane and his team.

It is fall break for me and UVU, and Klane is busy busy busy. He's on multiple teams at the ad lab and everything seems to be due monday. The timing couldn't be worse for my mid-semester break but it has been nice to not have to get up early to run between school and work all day. I decided to take Elder Uchdorf's advice from the General RS Meeting to create something. I headed to DI to get some cheeeeeeap frames, Home Depot for spray paint, my computer for my favorite pictures, and set to creating. Before/After pics follow:





I was loosely basing it off these images from Pottery Barn:



The best part? On ten new frames of all sizes, plus paint, I spent a total of $22.50. The price of one 4x6" frame from Pottery Barn? $29. I feel like I've won some sort of competition: Angie versus the overpriced home decor industry.

On another note, this lyric caught my ear today:

Let me assure you friend

Every day is ice cream and chocolate cake

And what you make of it, let me say

You get what you take from it so be amazed

And never stop, never stop, never stop

You gotta be brave

'Cause all this beauty

You might have to close your eyes

And slowly open wide

And watch the sun rise

-All This Beauty, The Weepies

New Addition

Check out the newest addition to our apt: Klane hung these shelves for me for Valentine's day. They look great!