I love HGTV

I had HGTV on for a couple hours today, mostly in the background of cleaning. Mostly, it makes me want to buy a house so I can fix it up. Today, it gave me some ideas for fixing up the place I'm renting. The best part is that what I came up with is way easier and better-looking than what I had been thinking about before. I had planned to fix up the kitchen by refinishing all the wood cabinets - stripping the finish, sanding, fill the holes, chips and dents, then re-paint them. That would have been a lot of work! But one of the shows halped me come up with a much easier and better-looking solution: wainscoting! It's that beadboard paneling that usually goes on the lower half of a wall, with a chair rail along the top. I'm going to use it to cover up the sides of the island, and maybe the cabinets too. I can just do a basic clean-up, then nail and/or glue the wainscoting over the top of the old stuff. Nice, huh?

They also used glass tiles in one kitchen show, so I looked online and found some really pretty glass tiles in graduated shades of blue:

Isn't it pretty? Picture that with clean white cabinets, maybe with navy blue accents. Right now, I have crappy medium-brown wood cabinets with dull yellow paint on the walls. Frankly, anything would be better than that!

I also got ideas for my bedroom. At first, I wanted to paint the wall that my bed is on dark green, but that'd be a pain to paint over when we move out. Instead, I'm going to make a headboard with dark green fabric, and paint the walls pale pink. Hopefully that'll bring my room together. I may need to reupholster my chair though. It's a great chair that I got for free, but the cushions are slightly faded red, and I don't want a christmasy thing going on. One idea for the headboard material:

As for the living roon, it's all white right now, which is a significant improvement over the same crummy yellow that's in the kitchen (and everywhere else). I'm thinking about painting the big wall a light brown, to bring the purple couches and red accent decor together. And I want to paint a big abstracty red flower on white canvas to put up over the fireplace. I'd love to do something with the fireplace too, but I have no idea how to cover it up without damaging it. Could I use wood? We do use the (gas) fireplace.

Anyway, those are some of the ideas rolling around in my head for the apartment. Hopefully I'll have enough cash to do some of it!

A pain in the neck, and awesome television

So I totally jacked up the muscles in my neck and upper back the other day. The only thing I can think of that might have caused it is that I had my muscles super tensed while I was playing Lego Star Wars at my friends house. But it feels like I have whiplash, so I don't know if just tensing the muscles would make my neck feel like this. I thought it was getting better until I twisted to turn out my light when I went to bed, and jacked it up all over again. And my right arm went numb for a little bit too. Awesome. So I've spent all day babying the general area, laying on the couch and watching TV. My major accomplishment in the morning was washing the dishes. Oh yeah. I was feeling better again by the afternoon, so I went on a walk with my friend Jamie and Mini, the dog I'm watching for Jen and Lee. We didn't go too far, and everything felt pretty much okay. Hopefully I'll be back to normal by tomorrow night!

So one of the shows I've gotten into recently is 'Bones'. I love this show! The chemistry between the leads is beyond fantastic. I want to see them together so badly, but I don't want that amazing tension to disappear. The supporting characters are also interesting, but it's Booth and Brennan who really make this show. Of course, I think David Boreanaz is a beautiful man, so that might have a little something to do with my affinity for his character! ;-) I just love it when he gets all emotional or tender, or both. His eyes are very expressive. Yummmmmmm.

I'm really excited about the return of Leverage in July. I've been hooked since the first episode. The group dynamic is fantastic. And I love that there's been a few ST:TNG cameos, including direction by Jonathan Frakes. Wil Wheaton is filming an episode right now, and I'm really excited to see it. I'd love for him to have a recurring role, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen, since he's based in LA and the show is filmed in Portland. Oh well. Maybe the show will move back to LA one day, and all my dreams will come true! ;-)

Two years down, one to go!

So I finished my second year back in school after getting out of the Navy. I still have another year left before I get that piece of paper. The good news is that I'll be done full time this December. After that, I either need to find a job that'll let me take one class per quarter or a paid internship. I don't know how likely either one is with the economy these days, but I'm hopeful.

Anyway, now I'm off through the end of September, which is awesome. I need a job, but I can't really start working until August because of all my travel plans. I'm going to visit my friend Jeremiah in Michigan over the 4th of July weekend. Michigan is one of the few states I haven't been to yet, and I'm excited. He lives in Traverse City, which is on the northern part of the lower peninsula. There are a bunch of lighthouses in the area, and I love me some lighthouses! :-)

On July 15th, I'll be basking in the Hawaiian sunshine! I'm spending about a week on Oahu before I sail back on the USS Comstock with my best friend Jen. The ship is coming back off a deployment, and the sailors can have non-significant-others on board for the last leg of the journey. I'm so excited, mostly because I miss Jen so much. I really need to work on my suntan before I get out there! It's been a little over 2 years since I left the island, and I'm excited to go back as a civilian.

We're supposed to arrive back in San Diego August 1st, and then hopefully I'll be heading to the east coast soon after that, for my dad and step-mom's 20th anniversary. Hopefully my presence will be a surprise. I still need to get with my step-brothers and figure it all out, but I'm looking forward to it. I don't get to see my dad nearly enough. He's such a great guy, and I wish he lived closer. I love spending time at his place out in Maine. It's unbelieveably relaxing. I could live that life pretty easily, I think. Simple, quiet, nice.

So that's the next couple months of my life. Add in three runs a week with Jamie, painting and cleaning the apartment, learning how to surf, some quality beach time, and my Reserve drill weekends, and I'll actually be pretty busy! Plus, I really want to make it up to Washington to see Shannon and her beautiful new baby girl, and out to see Susan in Nashville - I need more time, and lots more cash!!!

So the plan is to update this on a regular basis, but this is like the third time I've started - third time's a charm! ;-)