Tocky the Rolling Alarm Clock

This toys with the fine line between "want" and "need", as it is adorable but also very practical. You see, when they came up with that "'not a morning person' doesn't even begin to describe it" line, they actually had me in mind.

Not. A. Morning. Person.

So I probably need something like this. Plus, I like that the thinkgeek description refers to its noises as "R2D2 on acid".

I've also seen some other neat alarm clocks, where they hover around the room or require you to put puzzle pieces back together in order to shut it off. Anything special you've seen?

Vanilla Extract Project: Failure

So, I went to check on my vanilla extract project and found it to be a failure.

Oh yeah, they look fine from far, but look closer and you'd see this:

Um... what? Is that mold in 80 proof vodka??

(I made the image a little smaller so you don't have to see the detail in its gross glory.)

Just like that, $50 down the drain. I don't really know what went wrong here but I made this little image of some possibilities:

I'm still surprised that mold can grow at all in 80 proof vodka. I accidentally knocked one of the bottles over without any spillage so I don't think it's the airtight issue. Although, it looked like a lot of recipes I found online used mason jars. It doesn't really make much sense for it to grow mold just because it wasn't covered all the way, especially since only the submerged part grew. And the vodka? It's vodka.

I'm thinking it's the Rodelle beans. What do you guys think? I don't know what else to change for the next time I try this.

How to Remove Sticky Labels

Personally, my tried-and-true method is to use a blow-dryer. Just aim the heat all over the label for about 5-10 mins. It will dry out the adhesive and the entire thing will come off in one clean piece. Test one little corner after a couple minutes before removing the entire thing. You will not believe how easy and smooth this is.

LifeHacker also suggests using peanut butter or a standard pink eraser to get rid of the leftover gunk. Sharon Cole, of A Dream Wedding, told me that Goo Gone is her best friend when it comes to removing extra gunk when you're on the go (which a wedding coordinator always is).

But I've never had any extra gunk left over from my tried-and-true method... just saying. ;-)

Keep this in mind when removing the price tags over the next few weeks as you prep for the holiday!

Maggi’s Minimalist Oak Desk

I was browsing through this DIY Life article about decorating ideas for small spaces, figuring it may come in handy even in moderate-sized space just to keep that wide, open look. And I totally fell in love with this minimalist desk.

(image via Design*Sponge)

This would be perfect for your drop-off zone -- charging station on one side, mail organization on the other maybe? A small mirror for last-minute touch-ups before you go out the door, perhaps?

Full DIY guide by Maggi at Design*Sponge.

Couples Armchair

I must have spent at least 10 minutes scrolling through this lengthy post by If It's Hip, It's Here because Laura posted every single piece of furniture from the new Arik Ben Simhon sports-inspired furniture collection.

Maybe it's because I never had any interest in any sports that required padding but I didn't quite see all the appeal until it came to this piece:

the Shazlong Ex Mackey.

Doesn't it basically look like a two-person armchair-ottoman-lounger-thingy? (I'm sure it has an actual name but heck if I could find it.) I could see Clement and I curling up together in something like this all the time. But I don't know about the fabric. If anyone sees anything that looks similar to this, let me know!!

Shuriken Coasters

Want. These. So. Bad.

Why must they be so awesome but so pricey?

(via The Awesomer)

Daily Joy: Little Surprises

Day 2 of Daily Be's Daily Joy photojournal week!

Surprises Let Me Know He Cares*

When Clement came to pick me up the other day, he brought me a little surprise gift - a candle and body lotion "set" from Bath & Body Works! This was an amazing combination of knowing me well and somehow anticipating my needs... I love candles and, just seconds before he arrived, I was looking for lotion.

And the message? Too cute.

*Name this song and artist for 10 points.

(I am totally keeping track of these points, BTW.)

P.S. I love you, too.

Apartment Livin'

Since I’ve moved back into my parents’ house, I’ve been thinking about all the differences between this and living in an apartment. For the sake of simplicity, I’m defining my college apartment living only as units in apartment complexes.

Things I’ll miss about living in apartments:

• Round-the-clock access to emergency plumbing, electricity, and other services… 95% of which get solved in a 24-hour time span.
• Amenities I use very occasionally but don’t have to maintain regularly – gym, pool, etc.
• Free coffee/tea/hot chocolate/cookies
• Hot water is (almost always) nearly instant available for showers
• Not feeling bad about 3 a.m. showers bothering anyone
• Free awesome stuff like a movie theater, unlimited use business center, or pool table
• Not being afraid to sell things on Craigslist with “must be picked up” taglines because it’s like you’re going to be living there that much longer anyway!

Things I won’t miss:

• Paper-thin walls
• Noisy neighbors, especially ones with dogs
• Anything to do with laundry rooms (restrictive hours, people who mess with your laundry, that weird not-quite-linen-fresh smell from the machines)
• Having to carry groceries up elevators/stairs and down hallways from the car to the apartment
• Needing to go through more than one door or hallway before I’m technically home
• Being stuck with ugly kitchen cabinets
• Can't install filtered water! (I hate the taste of Brita and hate buying bottled water.)
• Giving people two sets of instructions on how to get to my place -- one for the complex and one for the actual unit
• The way every single unit and hallway looks exactly the same and sometimes I have to check the number outside my door to make sure I'm in the right place.

I see skies of blue... clouds of white

(via icanread, downstream from daily be)

p.s. I love vinyl wall lettering, especially from Etsy.

Cleaning, Packing, Moving, Part III

I can't find my headphones! I have my iPod shuffle in one hand but the corresponding headphones are nowhere to be found. Well, at least I have my laptop, where the world's music and videos are at my fingertips. Can't work on this packing and cleaning stuff without some music!

I usually like to have something upbeat on, like alternative rock, pop/dance, or Disney music. Sometimes I like to put a Disney movie on in the background while I work; it also keeps me on schedule with timely task completion!

What kind of music do you work to?

Beat the Heat with LifeHacker Tips

Every DIY junkie should give LifeHacker a thorough browsing. Now that it's the dead center of summer, they have been sharing a lot of information about beating the heat.

1. Give your AC a check-up

Don't forget that you probably haven't really used it since last summer. Like any other machine, sometimes a really simple cleaning to remove dust and dirt will do wonders for efficiency.

2. Hang a damp towel over a window

Water from the damp towel evaporates as the hot air moves through it, making the air cooler as it enters your house.

3. Use the Egyptian method to keep cool while you sleep

Dampen a sheet (wet it and wring it, or spritz it with a bottle) and use it as your blanket.

4. Know which foods cool you down and which don't

Have lots of fruits and veggies with high water content like leafy lettuces, corn on the cob, cucumbers, watermelon, and summer squash.

As for not actually cooling you down, ice cream and ice-cold beer are on the list. (I know, I'm shocked too.) Apparently, "anything ingested that is lower than actual body temperature will initially produce a cooling effect systemically," according to Gerard E. Mullin, the director of gastroenterology at Johns Hopkins Hospital, so these foods don't do much in the way of cooling your body past the 5 mins you take eating it.

Check out more in LifeHacker's Beat the Heat feature!

Got your own tried-and-true beat the heat tips? Share them below!

Another Name for Novelty

In both the apartment I am vacating and my old room at home that I am moving back into, I am attempting to clear out as much as possible of what seems to be endless drawers, containers, etc. of just... random stuff. Really random stuff. Novelty items and event exclusive collectables.

I've sort of have a reputation for being fantastic at collecting free stuff. And I am finding all sorts of fun little things that are just really not worth keeping. For the first couple of seconds I see it, I think "oooh, that's neat/cool/awesome/etc." Then I drop it in a bag, take it home, stick in a drawer, and completely forget about it until the next time I've dug it out during a cleaning attempt.

Among the notable "treasures" dug up so far, I've discovered a light-up yo-yo, juggling balls, several frisbees, bottle openers, and about a dozen stress balls (how appropriate).

I am so tired of having so much stuff that I don't use. I really don't know why I have it. One of my solutions was to throw all the stuff in a box and stick it in the hallway of the apartment complex with a sign saying that everything was free and in good working condition. (The free pens all went really fast.)

I've gotten to the point where I would just rather be free of all the stuff than think "what if I need it/want to use it someday" or consider the sunk cost of the item. Those thoughts weight me down. These novelty things are so useless. So I am endeavoring to part ways with all of them.

Cleaning, Packing, Moving, Part I

Packed up 4 boxes of stuff related to the computer and "home office," as I've dubbed it... all the standard stuff like blank CD's, stapler, etc. The spindles of blank, or filled, CDs and DVDs alone were nearly their own box. Granted, I'm using boxes that are on the small side, but still. 5 spindles seem like overkill but this isn't really the best time to go through them and see why exactly I have that many of them.

Tomorrow I have the only events management class I decided to take this summer - Wedding Decor! It's a hands-on class so I'm really excited about it and look forward to sharing it on my events blog later this week.

Tomorrow night, I'm going to pull all my clothes out of the closet and only take home the ones I frequently wear. The rest will probably go straight to Goodwill, but I may consider trying to sell them as part of my moving sale.

One of my FaceBook friend is apparently in the state of moving too, since her status was talking about how liberating it was to sell all her furniture and have no food in the fridge, drinking out of the carton and sleeping in a sleeping on the floor. And even though moving is a pain, I have to agree that there is something extremely refreshing about an empty place. In fact, I'm looking quite forward to selling the furniture in my place and sleeping on the inflatable mattress for a while.

Maybe it's just cleansing to purge and live on not very much. Heaven knows we get bogged down with our material possessions. I hope that with the things I've experienced over the last few years, I will be someone who has very little useless, cluttery, pack-ratty stuff in the future. My favorite time in any living establishment is right before we move in and it's just completely empty and clean. Maybe it's a clean slate thing - the possibilities are endless because nothing is set yet. Once you set things in a place, it's hard to break out of a routine or a mindset.

Haha, the more I clean, the messier the place actually looks. But that's okay, because I know I'm making a lot of headway. I just... uh, have to watch where I step. =P

Declutter

Between the hundreds of blogs I RSS to but don't have time to read and comment on, and the excess of just about everything in my apartment, I'm really starting to wonder why exactly do I have all this?

I've always been a packrat and it's hard to change a person's mindset but not impossible. It won't be easy to get past the mentality of keeping something "in case" but the clutter is, well, bad. Really bad.

Simpliest way to declutter must be to just throw out everything you don't immediately answer "yes" to in response to this question:

"Do I ______ this?" (read/wear/use, etc.)

Gah, too much stuff!