piss and vineger

I’ll be turning 30 years old on July 12, 2010, and I decided to partake in the project where you make a list of thirty things you want to accomplish before your 30th birthday. I don’t have long to go, but I’m hoping I can polish off everything on this list by making the items reasonable:

1. Hang curtains (whether store-bought or handmade) in every window of the house, and get rid of every shred of miniblinds that have been haunting my windows and my dreams since we moved in.
2. Install hardwood flooring throughout the main floor of the house (!!!).
3. Pay off my credit card.
4. Brew a batch of stout beer.
5. Plan and start saving for an autumn vacation in Vancouver/Seattle.
6. Grow delicious foods from heirloom seeds from Baker Creek, including a healing herb garden.
7. Get a really great haircut from my bestie JoAnn at G Spot Hair Design, one that is an actual hairdo rather than something I pull back into a bun everyday.
8. Get new glasses and contacts.
9. Paint every room in the house something other than “Ultra White”.
10. Scan all of our photos and organize them somewhere online.
11. Update my Iowa City tumblr at least once a week.
12. Continue my weight loss/fitness streak. Weight Watchers is working!
13. Throw a May Day party.
14. Organize and clean the basement.
15. Try sewing another purse.
16. Bake the perfect Blondie.
17. Finish watching the whole Arrested Development series (we’re on an extended hiatus, mid-season 2).
18. Create monthly music mixes without missing a month.
19. Try making homemade ketchup.
20. Build a pergola on the patio to continue cultivating an awesome backyard oasis.
21. Finally part with (donate) the ugly fleece that’s clogging up my fabric stash.
22. Go scooter camping in Palisades.
23. Buy a bike helmet so I can safely ride all over town.
24. Start really using the calendar/scheduling app on my iPhone to help keep my life more organized.
25. Try raw milk.
26. Mail goodies to my faraway friends.
27. Build a respectable cocktail station.
28. Start a food blog with aforementioned JoAnn.
29. Make a batch of Navratan curry.
30. Throw a fabulous 30th birthday party on my patio.

We’re trying to find a replacement rug for our living room, and I’m finding it a little difficult to locate one that won’t break the bank but will also leave the room open to future design choices. The rug we currently have in the living room is some cheapie deal that Kevin probably bought for $20 at Wal-Mart. It’s a neutral blue and is about 6′x4′. It’s also thinner than hell and doesn’t do much in the way of acting like padding for our feet or keeping us warm from the cooler hardwood floors.

As far as decor in the room, we’re hoping to slowly replace all of the more “college apartment” items with things in a more retro vein. So far, we’ve gotten rid of a super junky couch (hope you’re enjoying it, Sarah!) and replaced it in the room with a great little bookcase with angled legs. We also replaced a gross reclining chair that wasn’t used by anyone except the cats with my fabulous red ikea chair (which has since been discontinued and of which I can’t find a picture online).

A better place to start would probably be to decide what kind of color scheme we’d like to go with in the future, but that’ll probably be dictated by whatever couch we end up with. Our current couch is DEFINITELY not our style, and the only reason we have it now is because it was free and we don’t have a replacement yet. I think my ideal couch would be one of those that’s sort of like a sectional, only with a chaise lounge-type thing instead of an arm of the couch. Because of the unknowns, it’s probably better to go with a more neutral-colored rug that’ll go with anything. This one looks fun:

I’d kind of like to bump up to the next size, though, which is 5′x8′. We tried looking at Menards, but their selection of cheap rugs was pretty gross.

Seen any neat rugs lately?