Why wait for spring?

Over the weekend, I decided my apartment needed a "spring cleaning"...
And though I worked on it all day Saturday, I still have a long way to go! But things are starting to look better already- I even emptied my closet of 2 HUGE bags of old clothes! So while all that cleaning might not make the most entertaining blog post I've ever shared, I'm still really glad I did it!
So, did you have a productive and/or fun weekend? Thanks for visiting!

No more mud in the house, please!

As you know, I was thrilled to spend the majority of my summer vacationing. After an absence of 6 long and wonderful weeks, I recently returned to NYC. While I was gone, my cozy little apartment was vacant. Over the past month or so I had fleeting worries about what was happening back at my pad: what if I forgot to take out the recyclables before I left and things were molding and gross? Or what if rats and cockroaches infested my house the minute I walked out the door?

So when I returned to New York last week, I was beyond relieved to see that none of those terrible things had occurred! I was so overjoyed that after unpacking (a bit) and settling in, I cozied up on the couch to make a phone call... and that's when I noticed it:
Yes- that THING in the corner! Upon first glance I was sure a bat had nested in the crook of my arch which sent me into a panic! But after a moment I came to my senses and calmed down enough to get a closer look:
After frantically calling my dad on the phone, my concerns were confirmed: a family of wasps had made their mud nest in my apartment (and had not been to tidy about it)!
Can you believe it? I wasn't exactly pleased to have to deal with such an odd infestation, but my dad talked me through the removal process and I got to work. First: a trip to my local hardware store for a can of this stuff:
So after giving $7.98 (plus tax) to the lovely man behind the counter, I returned home...
And tried to figure out how an "outdoor only" product could be used in the confines of my tiny NYC apartment!
So I ripped up a perfectly good IGA bag to protect my original wood floor...
And turned down the AC (because apparently bugs don't like cold weather)..
And I soaked that little mud nest with as much chemicals and poison as I could!
The job got a bit messy, which is to be expected when the nozzle "shoots up to 20 feet" and I did the job from 24 inches... but oh well!
The mud was getting pretty gross, so I ended up taping a Ziplock bag over the whole shebang while I scraped the mess off my poor moulding.
After lots of cleaning products (and a little bleach) I finally cleaned up the last bit of mud, just in time to hit the sack!
And while a mud wasp's nest wasn't something I ever wanted to find in my house, it could have been so much worse! Thank you for stopping by- I hope you have a great rest of the day!

Dollar Store home decor...

Now that I have a little free time, I decided to tackle a few projects around my apartment that I'd been putting off.
First, I needed to find a way to display some postcards I received recently. Second, I desperately needed to change out the 'festive' decor on my front door, since I was horrendously out of date. (Yep- that poor guy has been hanging there for quite a few months... which isn't all that surprising!)

That being said, I didn't want to spend a ton of money... so I ran to my local Dollar Store and spent $3 on coffee filters, clothes pins, and twine. (Just typing that sentence made me feel like MacGyver!)
I tackled the postcard project first. You see, my brother recently toured the West Coast for a couple of weeks and sent me the most amazing stack of notes while he was gone.
So I decided to string some twine along a wall in my living room, and I clipped the postcards along the line.
I really like the way this turned out- not only does it add some visual interest along a normally blank wall, but the postcards can easily be re-arranged and removed (and I can re-read what my brother had to say about each stop). And on a lucky note, several of the cards totally match the wall color- what a great coincidence!
After that project was complete, I turned my attention to the front door. I pulled my watercolor supplies off the shelf, and got to work.
I played around for a bit, and found my groove pretty quickly! Here's what I did:

1. I mixed some water and paint in a dinner plate.
2. I folded a coffee filter like I was going to make a paper snowflake.
   
3. But instead of cutting designs like on a snowflake, I just rounded the ends to create a "petal" shape.
4. Once the flower was cut, I placed it into the paint plate, and made sure the paper was completely saturated.
   

I repeated this step around 40 times, using various paint colors, and left the flowers to dry.
Once the filters were completely dry, I started to assemble my new door-decor.

1. I started my wreath with an old wire hanger I had in my closet. I bent it into a circle, retaining the hook at the top.
2. Using some tissue paper from a gift I received a while ago, I wrapped the wire, which allowed me more surface area to glue the flowers.
3. I randomly assembled flowers, using various sizes, colors, and shapes layered on top of each other.
4. After I'd completed a flower, I glued it to the wreath.
   

And after I'd done that a few times...
I had a finished wreath on my hands!
Isn't it cute? I thought the colors were perfect for the summer, and the papery texture of the flowers will be a nice change for my front door.
Much better than that glittery shamrock, don't you agree?
And as a bonus, I created this little gift bag out of the leftover flowers.
All in all, I think that was a well spent $3- and I'm so glad to cross those projects off my "to do" list! Thank you for stopping by- I hope you have a great day!

UPDATE: I'm excited to say that my Coffee Filter Wreath is listed on One Pretty Thing today!

My "A Wall"

I like to collect things... it's not exactly a well kept secret. I collect useful things like salt and pepper shakers (because having 50 sets of S & P shakers is SO practical) and chunks of petrified wood. But I also collect pretty things like plastic horses (you should have seen my childhood bedroom) and A's. Let me show you what I'm talking about.
Yup- that's my 'A' wall. Crazy fun, right? It all started when I lived in Illinois. My aunt and uncle bought me a few A's, and now I'm hooked. I can't admit to having favorites (because then the others would feel bad), but here are a few that are extra special.

The big silver A is the first one I ever got... so blame T&T for this addiction. Right to the left of the big one, you'll see a little yellow polka dot one... my cousin EMVR glazed that one for me!
My little bro carved this one for me out of some special wood... so it's VERY sentimental for me!
And my Mamasita painted this one with the flower of my birth month- lily of the valley!!
All these lovely letters hang on the wall next to my bed. (I would've taken a shot that showed you the proximity, but my bed wasn't made.) This is what they look like when I wake up in the morning.
Now, that's not all... I've been pretty lame about hanging some new A's that I've gotten over the last few months. Here's the stash (and I still have to decorate that chipboard one, don't worry).
And now, a question for you. This is a very special A (since SFS brought it back from Spain when we were first dating), but I can't figure out how to get it to my wall, short of tile cement... any suggestions?
Hope you enjoyed my mini-home tour. I suppose when you live in NYC, and the apartments are small, a wall at a time really makes sense! ;) I hope you have a wonderful Thursday- thanks for stopping by!