I Make Quotes Pretty

Growing Pains

I want to leave.  I want to go far away.  My year in Richmond has been very interesting to say the least, and though I've grown as an individual, I still have a lot more growing to do.  Richmond is not the place to do that.  The unfamiliar and challenging calls me; I hope, in the next few months, I'll be able to make up my mind about a teach abroad program that I would be comfortable, no scratch that, interested in doing.  I anticipate that any teach abroad program that I will do will have its share of uncomfortable moments and challenges that I can't even begin to imagine right now.  All this talk about, "Why don't you go to Europe?" is not what I want.  One, because Europe is extremely expensive and means either debt, or the inability to experience all that Europe has to offer, and two, I don't want things to be easy.  I have nothing against Europe, in fact, it's one of the places I want to re-visit someday, but not now.  Not in this formulative period of my life.

I read a blog post about 20-somethings the other day, and it explained why being in your 20s is awesome.

Some take-aways: "Being in your twenties allows you to start carving out the life you want for yourself. Everything is on your terms now which seems daunting but is actually liberating. For the first time in your life you’re the boss."

After a year of a decent-paying, but incredibly dull post-grad job,  paying my own bills, having my first credit card, buying groceries, and after months of living alone (read: lonliness) and trying to warn off depression by telling myself that life is too short to let depression invade it, I'm ready to be my own boss.  Like the 20-somethings article states, everything in the first 20 years of our lives was planned out for us.  Someone else guided you down a path, culminating in the college years. 

Because of this, I'm almost afraid to make any major decisions without someone telling me to, or telling me it is the "right thing to do".  Maybe this is in part because I've been on my parents dime for 20+ years; I make decisions based on their opinions and beliefs because they have provided for me.  In the past few months, I've discovered this hesitation I have to make any big decisions.  Should I buy this expensive phone? I don't know, unless my parents, boyfriend, or close friends tell me I should.  Should I sign up to take an online TESOL course? Should I?  A stillness, a quiet, makes me realize I have to make these decisions on my own.  It's my life, it's my money.  But why am I so afraid to take leaps of faith?  I'm sure it's because I'm worried about making the wrong decisions and disappointing people in my life. 

But I'm starting to realize that I could move to Antartica if I really wanted to (and had the financial resources).  I'm the boss of my life and everything is on my terms now.  It is time to start making some changes, time to be uncomfortable and face challenges as best I can.  It is time to leave.  It is time to go far away.

Food in Place

I wake up every morning craving Pho Ga, or Vietnamese chicken noodle soup.  Something about the steamy deliciousness of it; fresh ingredients; two of my favorite condiments too--cilantro and lime.  Accompany with Nau Da (Vietnamese coffee with condensed milk), and I would be content.  The Special K cereal I have in the morning now just doesn't cut it.  I think I could be happy in any culture that eats Xoi Ga (chicken & sticky rice), Pho, or some other hearty, but healthy, food for breakfast. 


Xoi Ga, with Sausage & Fried Egg, in Ha Noi

I didn't get to taste all of the wonderful foods that Ha Noi has to offer, and this makes me sad.  But in Da Nang (or "Halong Bay on Land") we had our fill of goat, prepared many ways, which, I wasn't crazy about, but tried.  Goat is chewy.  I am happy to be an adventurous eater, which I find is a quality absent in American culture.  I think I get it from my dad; growing up, he'd eat anything while my mother watched on in disgust.  She hadn't even had rice until she met him.  On the Asian side of my family we say a person is a "real HuYoung" by their adventuresome eating.  The "nasty bits" are, in fact, the tastiest, most valued parts of the animal in other cultures, but we are breed to think of them as "bad". 

I miss papaya salad too.  I want some "morning glory" and boc choy.  Some of those tiny fried spring rolls filled with crab.  Banh Bao, Bahn Mi...it's all coming back now.  I want those small bananas that taste more like sweet potatoes.  I want the accessibility and affordability of food--I do not like having to drive 10 minutes to pay $20 for a pizza.  I want to walk out my door and have it there, right in front of me.  I want to pay no more than $2 for Xoi Ga that will fill me up for the day.  I want to sit on small plastic stools with my soup, watching the world go by.


My First Ha Noi Street Food Experience

I want to taste the world's foods.  Yes, Vietnam, I want to try more of your cuisine, but want Chinese, Thai, Indian, Argentenian, Spanish, Brazilian...I want it all, in its place.  Food can be an experience of place, but eating food in its place is being there, in the moment.  I don't even care if I like it, I just want it.  Perhaps food is the real way to experience culture.

Organized Chaos: An Adventure in Vietnam, Part I

So I believe it's officially the end of what I like to call the "stressful period" in my life, which lasted for 4 months, hence the hiatus in posts.  As Adam left for Vietnam, I attempted to keep myself busy with a lot of craft projects that still have yet to be completed, as the busy holidays and annual Fellows banquet at work took its toll on my so called, down-time. Sometimes you get so caught up in being busy that you almost become numb to feelings and emotions; no bueno. 

Right now, I'm extremely jetlagged, for real.  I can't really think straight, and my head has a weird pressure on it, and I don't know how much sense I'm going to make.  So why am I jetlagged?  Because I just got back from one of the most amazing trips of a lifetime to Vietnam, where my boyfriend is currently living. We did so many things, saw so many different parts of the country, and had a lot of fun experiencing everything together.  I left for this trip the day after a stressful work conference/Fellows banquet, and planned the trip no less than 15 days before I left.  The timing was right, as it was Tet Holiday (Lunar New Year) in Vietnam and Adam had an entire week off work, though I'm not one to plan something as big as this so last minute.  From last minute preparations, to asking for time off work (after already taking a week off in December), to going to a foreign land, I was definitely out of my comfort zone.  But you know what? It felt so good.  This sporadic, spur of the moment, go with the flow adventure took me out of my usual "everything needs to happen a certain way" mode.  It turned off, and I decided to let Vietnam have me, if you will, carefree, exploring, experiencing, not knowing what food I'd be eating next, or where we'd be going the next day.  Although some of my "I need to know what the plan is, and we need to stick to it" impluses kicked in, I learned that sometimes it's better to experience life on the fly, not knowing what's ahead.  Sometimes it's good to plan last minute, because then you're more open to experiencing the moment, than experiencing with pre-expectations.  

This trip definitely changed the way I see things, and may have an impact on my habits in the future.  It also revealed that I'm in my formative years, and now is the time to decide what type of woman I want to become and what dream I want to chase.  In the next few posts, I'll write more about my experience, but first, so that I can analyze everything fully, I'm going to wait until the jetlag wears off and the fog around my mind clears. 

Jazzing up a Hall Rug

Ah I love early morning runs, don't you? Especially when you wake up at 5:50 am, lay in bed for 10 minutes contemplating whether or not you want to go back to sleep...and usually sleep wins.  Well not this morning (even though I stayed up until midnight working on my Chevron rug)!  I have a 5K run on Saturday, and I really haven't been training that much to PR this race.   So I forced myself out of bed to run 2 miles on the treadmill, and it could have been 3 miles, but I did lay in bed for about 15 minutes deciding whether or not to venture down to the fitness room...Anyways, I'm not going to stress out too much over it.
So my latest project has been inspired by the Chevron rug painting trend that has become pretty popular.  Basically you take a flatwoven rug, stencil or measure and tape your zig-zag chevron lines, and paint! 

I already had a $5 rug from Ross that I bought 5 months ago for the entryway.  It's made of synthetic fibers, and most of the blogs I've read about painting rugs have used cotton or natural fiber rugs.  I think cotton/natural fiber rugs take the paint better, whereas synthetic rugs tend to absorb a lot of paint and you have to do multiple layers.  Anywho, I needed to practice painting a rug before I get started on another Chevron rug project with some nice natural-fiber rugs from target.  So while I'm pretty content with the outcome, I hope it will look better on a flatwoven cotton/natural fiber rug!

Finished Chevron rug!

This is the natural-fiber rug from Target that I'll be painting eventually, which would be a great choice if you wanted to do this project!  A 2.5' x 4' is $20, and I believe the 5' x 7' is $80.  You can order both the small and large versions of this rug on the Target website (some companies, like Ikea, don't ship rugs) and because my order was over a certain amount and it was on flooring I received free shipping and a 15% discount!  Score!
 

 There's also a $70 4'4" x 6'5" EGEBY rug from Ikea that would work well here.
 
This one, ERSLEV from Ikea is even cheaper and larger at 5'11' x 8'2' and $60 (too bad it's out of stock at the VA Ikea), but maybe you could find it somewhere online!   I've seen Chevron painted on both!
 
What you need (my quantities are for a 3' x 5' synthetic rug, so adjust as needed):

1) Flatwoven natural fiber/cotton rug (recommended)
2) Quart of base color (lighter colors look good!). Mine was Olympic "Ash Mist".
3) Quart (or two sample size) of line color.  Mine was Valspar's "Frosty".
4) A cardstock template.
5) Painter's tape.
6) Roller, paint tray, foam brush, large brush.
7)  You could also use a fabric medium to mix with your paint which you can get at craft stores (some instructions use it, some don't)
8) Patience About 4-6 hours.

So like I said, the rug I bought was $5 and isn't great quality, but I needed to practice.  It was originally a beige color, but I wanted it to be more white, so I used Olympic's "Ash Mist".  I got a sample size, which barely covered a quarter of the rug!  This thing absorbed paint like crazy!  I ended up having to by a $9 quart of Ash Mist to cover the entire thing and used a foam roller.  Also, if you're using a rug with a boarder, don't forget to tape off the edges!

So I really didn't have a great method for my madness, except I created a template, which I didn't take a picture of, but you can see it in the far left of the picture below.  It's cardstock that I glued together, end to end to get a zig-zag shape.  You need 2 to measure the next place you need to tape.  Because I suck at math and geometric measurements frustrate me, I guestimated the size, luckily for this 3' x 5' rug, my template (which was a piece of 8.5" x 11" of cardstock split down the middle) worked.  I used my template to tape off one line at a time.  Remember you always need to tape around the outside of your template when it is positioned one line up, or else your spacing will be off.  OR you could always follow these directions I should have found earlier just found and roll the entire thing at once!

After letting the white paint dry, I used a foam brush to get the edges, and a paint brush for the insides of my lines.  The color is "Frosty" by Valspar.

I had to get another sample jar to finish the lines.  I should have just gotten a quart of "Frosty" and would have some left for another project!  Oh, and for some reason the color came out a little lighter.  Oh well. I'm hoping that it might darken when it dries completely. 

Here's the finished project again!

So what I learned is it is a pain to paint this synthetic fiber type of rug.  It's not really flatwoven as there are little "hooks" of fibers, so getting in all the little nooks took a long time.  It still looks a little "distressed" because it was absolutely impossible to get even, full coverage, but you know what...some people have sanded down their rugs to give them the distressed look mine has, so I don't mind it!  I'll probably also try that "tape method for perfect chevron stripes" next time too.

I'm linking the following blogs that may provide better directions than mine some inspiration!  You can also try out other neat painted designs, not just the Chevron stripe! Or use outdoor paint for an outdoor rug! 

http://hayleyphotography.blogspot.com/2011/03/i-am-sucker-for-any-type-of-before.html

http://www.thehouseofsmiths.com/2011/04/chevron-painted-rug-from-ikea.html

http://www.almost40yearoldintern.com/2011/09/diwhy-not-fab-pink-geometric-painted.html

http://www.curbly.com/diy-maven/posts/1654-how-to-paint-an-indoor-outdoor-rug

Project Transformations

Update: New Edits and Pictures Added!

Well hello!  It's been a while!  With work and refinishing projects (and trying to fit a work out in), it's been really crazy!  I feel that it's time to update on why I've been MIA!  I wanted to hold off on showing you what I've been working on because nothing has been staged to look pretty.  But I realize that if I wait until I stage my refinished projects this blog post wouldn't happen until probably next year because I'm slow and get easily distracted.  I'll upload pictures once everything gets staged!

So here we go!  I found this cute little dresser for $15 at Goodwill last spring and had been using it at Peppertree (my old Williamsburg apartment) in the guest room.  It went great in the guest room because I had a "sweet, victorian" thing going on due to some white iron day beds I had.  The 2nd room was great because my parents/guest could have their privacy and visit...something I miss in the new loft.  Anyways, I'll stop living in the past :P It's mostly wood, and was is pretty good shape.  I had to fix a few places with nail glue, but nothing serious.  When I moved to my city apartment I wanted to keep it because it was a good, sturdy piece, but the floral hardware and white didn't go with the decor.  So, after about 10 hours of labor, I turned it into this cute little dresser!

                                              

I hand-sanded the entire piece, which, I have learned, will never do again.  I promptly went out and bought an electric sander for $60 at Lowes.  I also completed this redo in my apartment, which has no outdoor area, and is a bit small to be redoing furniture in!  And the polyurethane spray coat...let's just say I may have lost a few brain cells.  I used Victorian (Antique?) Pewter by Olympic to do the grey, and a paint sample for $3 at Lowes was enough for the entire job.  I believe I did about 2 coats and a few touch-ups.  Although I used painter's tape to make off the white area, some of the grey color leaked through.  I painted the drawers with a brush, but used a small cabinet and door specific roller for the rest.  I kept the original hardware on the top drawer, but got new pulls for less than $1 each for the bottom drawers.  I'm really pleased with the outcome!  And with the price of the dresser, paint and supplies, I got this for about $30! 

My next project was to redo Adam's piece of crap lovely little wine rack he somehow obtained from his former place of employment.  This rack sat in the bowels of a hotel for a few decades (I'm assuming) and he brought it into our old apartment while I was away and I let it stay without further examination of the little staples, tape, nail holes, splinters rustic details.  Here it is, all decoared at Christmas time at Peppertree!

When we moved, I decided it didn't go with the contemporary decor, and would get an overhaul when I had the time.  This past weekend, I went to my parent's house (thanks Mom and Dad for having an awesome garage for me to do all my projects!) with my new electric sander and got to work. 

I didn't realize how difficult it would be to sand and paint all the little nooks and that there were a lot of staples, nail holes, tape, etc.  These were on all the sides, in addition to other nail holes, tape, and staples I had to remove.

Also, while sanding, the varnish smelled terrible.  Like grandparents musty attic or something...yuck!  Here it is post sanding/nail holes filled with wood filler:

And then primed with Killz primer:

And here's the completed project!  Paint color is Phantom Mist by Olympic. Sprayed with a polyurethane coat after the paint dried.  Excuse the poor quality cell phone picture, as I forgot to take an "After" with a camera...

I was able to do the entire wine rack with a $3 paint sample from Lowes (almost ran out though!).  Another 10 hour labor of love!  I'm thinking about installing locking casters to the bottom, so it's movable with all the wine in it.

A Good Meal

Miss me? I know it's been almost a week since I've posted.  Adam came back from Hawaii, so we spent this week doing our most favorite things...drinking and eating (and a little crafting was thrown in too).

This post should probably be called, Steak Tuesdays, by the way.  

Bargain alert (I'll be highlighting tips and bargains from now on!): Did you know Tom Leonard's Farmer's Market in Short Pump has reduced priced meat?  I know what you're thinking...e. coli, salmonella...but a wise person told me it's just the cuts that might have oxidized a little, or were from the day before.  We decided to get steak from Tom Leonard's anyways because they (in my opinion) have the best meat in the area (no lie!).  They also do Boar's Head deli meat for $6.99/lb.  At any other grocery store, a pound would run you about  $8.99, so it's definitely a place worth checking especially if you're a sandwich person.  It's sad though, because a lot of this places business has gone to the Whole Foods and Trader Joe's across the street.  I like these stores too, but Short Pump just has too many gourmet grocery stores, in my opinion!  Anyways, we found the discount meat section and said "Why not?"  I mean, they can't poison you, it's not like it's bad, it's just not the premium cut.  We left with a great deal!  Four large Ribeye steaks for $9.  Yes, $9.  Compared with similar steaks in the store, we saved over 50% and it turned out great.  What do you think of discounted foods?

Hello beautiful. You were delicious. 

So here's how we did them: Marinated in soy sauce (teriyaki would work too), salt, pepper, shaved ginger and garlic, and a little garlic powder.  Broiled in the oven until they were done (can't tell you how long because Adam did this part...Paula and hot ovens are not friends).  Sauteed some mushrooms and onions in a little olive oil.

We also had a citrus vinaigrette citrus salad! Yay greens!

The citrus vinaigrette recipe came from the salad bad.  Do you ever use those recipes that can be found on food boxes and bags?  Have they been yummy?!  The dressing was actually really great! It consisted of a little orange juice, red wine vinegar (called for cider vinegar that we didn't have, so we improvised), salt, pepper, garlic, and olive oil (which was added slowly as all the ingredients were whisked together to emulsify).  To all this I added the spinach and tossed it in the dressing, and on top I put grapefruit pieces, dried cranberries, and some cheese I thought was funky tasting.  Apparently blue cheese would have been perfecto with this type of salad, but, since I don't like blue cheese, we didn't have any.

Adam also cracked open a bottle of Gypsy Dancer, Pinot Noir.  It's an acclaimed wine from Oregon.  (Wine Fact: Did you know Pinot Noir grapes like cooler climates!?)  Apparently he thought it might have been corked.  I know what this means, but it's kind of technical (and this isn't a wine blog people!) but either he, or the link can explain more if you're interested.  But then he though it might not be.  Wine is so bipolar sometimes!

Anyways, here's the entire ensemble.  Yay!  Steak Tuesdays!

As much as I like a home cooked meal, it's nice to get out and have someone else clean up the mess.  Wednesday we went to Legend Brewing Co. which is just over the Manchester Bridge.  Like the name suggests, they do make their own beer!  They also make awesome beer dog nuggets.  I highly suggest getting these if you go. While we were there we enjoyed a festive Irish fiddle music club (I felt like I was Rose in the lower decks of the Titanic).

But the best thing about Legend is the spectacular patio view of Richmond.  I didn't get a nigh picture, but it's absolutely stunning in the evening when the city is all lit up. 

Do you have a favorite spot to sit back, have a drink, and relax in Richmond, or elsewhere?