thrifting becoming a second nature

That is right.

Today at noon I found myself wanting to take a break. So I walked to two thrift stores nearby. This was mostly because of the great treasures I hunted this past weekend – i can see how easily it can become addictive 🙂

Today I bought a couple of empty frames, a coffee press, two art work, and a blouse.

Both of the artwork are giving me delight and making me very excited and happy! They were the most expensive things I have ever bought from thrift stores (both over 25 bucks together), but I think this money is well spent.

I have lots of photos to post in the empty frames; I cannot wait to hang them on the wall 🙂 Together with the art works, these frames will help me turn my house into a home. With character. And beauty.

And the coffee press was a great deal; I bet it is new and never been used (i could not detect even a light coffee stain on it or on the filter) and it had the best deal: it was only 2 bucks. 

And last but not the least; the blouse I have bought is so cute, so lovable that I am in love once again! This is the 5th blouse I have purchased from thrift stores this year and I could not be happier with my choices.

Life is good my friends 🙂

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Feeling lucky :)

We have had such an incredible day today that I could not help but felt very lucky 🙂 It was a wonderful November day; warm and shinny. It is very unusual for where I am, which is known to have gray sky and cool weather year round. Once cannot not take note of such an exceptional day 🙂

I felt lucky for an additional time when I took the artwork I have got from a thrifty store last Friday to my office and when it just fit the wall and its environment so well! It is a simple canvas painting of a house on a summer day filled with light, shadows of the leaves, trees, and flowers 🙂 Just by looking at it I feel like I am in a Mediterranean country and vacationing 🙂

It is exciting to feel lucky.. I hope all of you have had a similar experience that made you feel this way today.

joy journal – August 29, 2015

Joy, happiness, joy, happiness, joy! 🙂

1. I am grateful for today; being well and sound, waking up, however late and tired.
2. I am grateful for the beautiful, warm, and shiny day; it prompted me to do something other than my routine and spend time outdoors.
3. I am grateful for catching the bus and going to a shopping mall area. I was right on time.
4. I am grateful for donating the clothes I had sorted out while decluttering my wardrobe a while ago. It felt good 🙂 Hope they will find a new owner, who will appreciate them more than me.
5. I am grateful for walking to another thrifty store – I ended up not purchasing anything this week. It is surprising but I am happy with my decision.
6. I am grateful for deciding to go home to eat something rather than eating in a Chinese restaurant that I enjoy time to time.
7. I am grateful for checking a store at the shopping mall and finding two beautiful art pieces! I fell in love with them right away. They are similar to each other (sold together), picturing a forest with amazing trees, amazing light, and fall colours. As soon as I put them on the walls, the atmosphere of my house changed for a better one. It looks, I do not know, different, beautiful, and like a home with a character. They both demand to be looked at and enjoyed. I love them and I love the fact that I purchased them 🙂 I would like to buy more beautiful stuff to give my home what it deserves.
8. I am grateful for taking the bus back from the shopping mall. Again I did not wait too much, so it was an easy ride. I feel lucky 🙂
9. I am grateful for changing my Saturday routine by going to the stores today. I did clean my home upon my return and I am still not done with the laundry, but it is well worth having this change.
10. I am grateful for aerating and cooling down my home.
11. I am grateful for the new mats on my bathrooms. There was an immediate face lift. I am not into having a lot of stuff, but I guess some things are really good. A nice change, nice colours, nice feelings 🙂
12. I am grateful for cooking a nice meal for myself tonite, even though I was late because of shopping and then house chores. It turned out to be tasty and healthy.
13. I am grateful for not eating too much bread today 🙂
14. I am grateful for realizing how tired I got up this morning. No, I did not like being tired. But I liked the fact that my body was talking to me to take better care of it. I better eat healthier food. Also walk whenever I can.
15. I am grateful for finding additional art-work that one of my friends had given me as a gift. It is a little four-piece stuff that just looks cute. I just need a place for them to hang on. Hmmmm…
16. I am grateful for having only good news today.
17. I am grateful for today being Saturday and tomorrow being Sunday. I can enjoy my time, relax as I please, and take my time with the things I have to do around the house.
18. I am grateful for the handyman, who will come tomorrow and do some minor work for me. It is really nice to have someone to do stuff that I am not capable of doing myself.
19. I am grateful for not being too frugal and preferring today to buy the art-work that makes a positive difference in my life. I really like that, as some of the stories of the frugal people are a little bit too much… I do not believe in restraining myself that much, at least not yet. As a matter of fact, after today’s experience, I decided to buy more for my living room and the bathrooms. I am thinking maybe a blue art-work for the living room, right across from the couch that will give a feeling of “freshness and clarity”. For the bathrooms, something colorful and lovely; maybe some flower pictures. Come to think about it, I have many pictures that I can print and hang on to my walls… Time to do this 🙂
20. I am grateful for being grateful 🙂

minimalist; sometime by choice sometime by necessity

The person who is going to home-sit my house while I am away has moved in today. That is a huge peace of mind. My friend told me she likes my house, which is very nice to hear. She also said that the yard looked a lot better this time 🙂 All the cleaning and trimming I have done since last month seem to have worked 🙂

Going back to my home, I have minimal furniture, which makes my home feel spacious. When I first bought my home, I had plans to furnish it really well; I had planned to replace the two beds in the bedrooms with the new ones, together with side tables, night lamps, and dressers. I had planned to have carpets/rugs in the hall, the living room, and the rooms. I had planned to buy new book cases that would fill with my ever-increasing number of books. And the art-work would be everywhere, making the bathrooms, bedrooms, halls, and the living room all pretty and nice.

But soon after I bought the house, I realized I could not do all of these. Home-ownership is really expensive, especially with old houses like mine that keep requiring repairs, sometime even significant ones such as foundation problems. So I had decided to freeze such expenses for an indefinite time, until I secure my home first. This has been 1.5 years ago and I am still counting.

I have been having second thoughts lately and when my friend said nice things about my home, I thought “I can make my home really pretty”. Even though I cannot buy the furniture now, I really would like to beautify my place with art-work for the bathrooms, living room, and the bedrooms. Different kinds of paintings, photos, or other wall ornaments. I am really craving to see them, to make my home feel pretty and colorful.

I am on a serious budget and am saving. I know I am doing much better than before and even so, I can still cut some of my expenses for a month or so to finance the art-work. I am excited by this idea 🙂 My plan is to save the money first (let’s say $100) by means of spending freezes (on books and dining out for a month). Then I can go shop as I please for beautiful art-work for my place. I believe that is going to be fun and largely satisfying 🙂

See, friends and budgeting are great in many ways; one of them supports us all the time and gives us wonderful ideas and motivations, and the other one allows us to make plans for ourselves and make (material) things happen :).

Stay on track with both, everyone 🙂

my first day at my new office

Time did not fly, I was excited and happy, it was bright and shiny, I worked effectively but without straining myself, and I did not want to leave…

I was so excited and happy about the new office that I literally dragged people to show my office 🙂

I have more space and a more effective furniture that gives a sense of “big space”. I think the size of the office is not bigger than my ex-office; it just has better furniture that is all. Considering how much paperwork I dumped prior to move is also reflected as having less amount of folders and paperwork around. It is just spacious, this new office is. And I love it as it is. I hope I will be able to keep my promise and keep it uncluttered, clean, well-organized, and harmonic.

This morning I brewed my first coffee at my new office. Walking down to hall to get water (from the fountain) or to the washroom, which is now at the end of the long corridor, was not a problem. I even thought “it is great walking on this floor, little exercise, I am lucky”. The printer will be located somewhere probably not too close to me; great, another exercise opportunity for me.

At noon, I had tea at my office, which I usually would not. Tea has a calming and healthy effect on me. I am bringing more tea bags to the office tomorrow. I appreciate all of these changes.

Men will come in a couple of days to put nails on the wall for my art-work. I have two art-work so far, but I would like to get more. So, I am planning to get multiple nails here and there. It is interesting that I have had hardly any art-work at home…. Now, it looks like I am addicted, how interesting. I believe I will start hanging paintings and photos at home too (I just do not know how to find the best spot on the wall – will ask a friend to give me a hand).

Anyways, the entire floor is just settling. Some of my colleagues are scheduled to move tomorrow. I have one last heavy equipment left at my ex-place, which will be moved on Wednesday. This week all moving should be finished and we should find our ways around this large and spacious floor.

This move changes a lot of things. Our secretary has now an office right across from my office. It is nice to have her as a neighbour. One of my close collaborators is 5 meters away. My team members are scattered a little bit, but that is okay. They used to be seated within meters of me at our previous place; I think this distance is good, provides some privacy to everyone, and I can focus on my work more.

Since it is such a big floor (we have the entire floor now) and offices and the rest are partitioned well, it is also somehow quiet. Perfect place to have a quiet mind and do amazing work.

a spontaneous day

While I had thought about sleeping in today, I got up at 9 am.

There is something both nice and not-so-nice thing about getting up early and having all this time to spend (unless I work, I find it difficult to pass time; go figure…).

Anyways, I did not go to the same cafe today so made the decision to go to a shopping mall by bus. yes, I have taken the bus again, not the cab! Plus, how come I was not lazy and in fact could go to the mall, I have no idea 🙂

I went there, first bought myself a nice latte and my usual toasted bagels with butter breakfast. I enjoyed it very much. Then, browsed the book store and another store. I got a gift for someone I love dearly and then went to the dollar store. I always have great time at the dollar store – especially with the stationary items 🙂 of course I have got a couple of stuff that put a smile on my face and warmness to my heart. Well done.

Then, I went to two thrifty stores. Especially for books, both of the stores are awesome. I bought two books, but most importantly I bought a simple painting for my new office! The colours are great (natural brown, red, and green) and it pictures a balcony with grass and other green plants with a nice beige coloured window/shade at the background. I fell in love with it immediately and I cannot wait till Monday to bring it into my office and hang on the wall. I have another art-work at home that I really love, which I guess will look great in my new office, too.

Tomorrow, I plan to get one or two plants for my new office. One I will put in front of the window and the other on my file cabinet. Today I also looked for runners for my office; I kinda liked one with brown/red colours. The length and the price were all right, but I think I need something a little bit larger. I will continue to look for something nice. My office will be great, fresh and lovely. I hope I will be able to keep it organized, as I have a tendency to have a lot of paperwork around 🙂

It was a great day. I am excited that tomorrow I can go to another shopping mall and perhaps find a nice runner.