What happens when your schedule suddenly opens up...

Excerpt from the life of Joy, August, 2013:

If my life was like a commercial: I wake up, completely refreshed, in a darling studio apartment in the city, put on my adorable pink sundress and heels, hop out the door and run out to the park where everyone waves at me and there are balloons. The ice cream man gives me a lollipop and I stop to pet a dog, then I meet my suited up fiancé for lunch on the patio at some boutique restaurant, then suddenly it's nighttime and I meet my girlfriends for sexy cocktails on the roof of some high rise building.

Reality: I wake up and try to calculate the amount of time I can spare to snooze without sacrificing a shower, then attempt to simultaneously make coffee and put my contacts in. I go to work, get off at 4, just in time to briefly text with my fiancé as he's leaving for work. I get home and my cat has barfed on the rug, and I sit at my computer till it's too late to really do anything else, trying to finish things I need to finish in order to graduate college. Which I'm doing at age 28.
I want balloons and a lollipop in the park.

~

September.

I've since graduated.. just this last week  (Throws confetti everywhere, then sighs and goes to get the broom) and I feel like I'm suddenly busier than I was when I thought my head would explode from looking at my to do list. The truth is, I think I was actually doing the right thing to focus only on school to do lists, because now, the things I need to finish/get done/go do/etc., come from every direction. "Since you're done with school and have free time"... I'm getting dizzy. *deep breaths* :) Getting married and moving across the country aren't everyday things to be doing, and I'm sure I'll miss this. <3

Also, holycrapit'stotallyOctobertomorrow.

Happy Autumn! :)

Why Pyrex Measuring Cups Get Me Excited...

oh boy!

I bought myself a little two cup glass measuring cup yesterday, so that I could bake my fiance a cake for his birthday today. 
I brought it home and realized that I was so. excited.
I'm weird. I love baking and am about to get married and move which is SUCH a great excuse to register for new kitchen things! I don't even cook. I bake. Logan takes care of the actual food. 

Anywhoodle,

all this + stumbling upon an email from FAB<3 + procrastinating/no inspiration for yet another stair model  for my thesis construction docs class = blog about kitchenware. :)

**All items shown can be bought at Fab.com! Join the site & get awesome things for cheap!
Here's my link so that I get credit for telling you. ;) It's free. All you have to do is join through that link to give me a weensy credit toward the married bliss kitchen of my dreams. Did I mention it's free and they don't screw with your email address?  Come oooon! ;)

This reminds me of something I used to drink milk out of at Grandma's house.

Obsessed with depression glass pieces!

Obviously a necessity...

This is the prettiest set of cutting essentials I have ever seen.

This is for when we have our wild 20's parties.

I love the simplistic beauty of this set!

Everyone needs a spatula in their favorite color to mix cookie dough with.

 
 Brilliant! ;)

Robin Hood all the way!!

Ooooh de lally!

Disney Parks Blog is doing a poll to determine which old characters will be back for a special engagement at Disneyland Park!!!!

VOTE HERE!!!!

I voted for the Sherwood Forrest gang, of course.

Seeing them back would be brilliant! <3

Pull up a chair, and listen to my back crack...

Time for yet another juicy installment of the "journal" papers the lady makes us write for Human Factors class. Not sure why the formatting got weird. Oh well. Here is a rant about chairs. Enjoy.

             As I sit down to write this, I’m thinking, “Oh crud, I’ve been sitting at a computer all day already, and now here I am doing it again instead of dragging out my yoga mat and doing some scorpion kicks to deal with my butt, which I have been neglecting.” So, let’s slink not so smoothly into the topic of chairs. Because I said butt; that’s the best introduction I can muster at the moment. I’m sitting in a chair right now, right on my aforementioned body part. It’s from Target, but I like to think I’ve gained enough knowledge and taste throughout the years to pick and choose wisely enough so as to discount my way through life while appearing as a fashion maven. Okay, maybe that’s taking it a bit too far. Still, my chair from Target is an oversized, armless, wooden legged, cushy thing in an off white canvas material with a pop-y black botanical pattern on it. I love it, and I really want to plop it in my new apartment as a side chair to my ever-so-kitsch living room set that will consist of that, a teak coffee table that Logan procured from his San Diego days, and whatever couch anyone is giving away come November. However, at this point in time, my lovely chair, which is very comfortable, is masquerading as my desk chair, and in doing so, is very uncomfortable. The problem with the current situation is as follows: the chair is not at the correct height for comfortable computer use. It really comes down to that, which is probably why, in the course of this discourse, I have unplugged my laptop and relocated it from my desk to my lap, and am sitting here comfortably cross legged. But I’m not actually using my desk. Drat. When I try to, I get that crick in my shoulder which I’ve affectionately come to call my “CAD knot”, because my right arm, (my mouse arm) ends up all screwed up over the desk at an unnatural angle. For that matter, my left arm gets messed up too, and I end the day looking like Quasimodo.

          It’s really mostly desk chairs that ever give me issues. Why the ever loving heck can’t 

there be a desk, office, or school chair that is comfortable, affordable, and oh, here’s the kicker: actually bought and used in said office or school. I’ve seen plenty of great, ergonomic, pretty desk chairs that are actually meant to support a person working at a computer on a desk. In fact, I just took a grip of photos of awesome chairs at the Haworth showroom that we just visited. They were comfortable, (I sat in some and said “ahhh”.) pretty, (they even had my favorite color!) but alas, probably not to incredibly affordable. Drat again. Here’s a question: Why is it that I pay bazillions of dollars to go to a school that makes me sit in crappy chairs all day? Is it because they are more affordable? Where the bleep is all my money going? (I do realize that was three questions, but if I may be allowed to continue my rant…) Chairs that spin and roll and go up and down are expensive. I get that, although I’m sure there is a better way to manufacture great chairs without requiring a fortune, therefore not needing as much from poor consumers like us. This aside, if chairs like the good for nothing rolly, spinny, up-and-downy chairs they bought for our classrooms and computer labs cost a bunch of money anyway, why not get us some well designed, comfortable chairs instead? I think I go to the worst designed design school of probably all time. They are trying, I guess. I mean, the school rents the building space in the Business Park, and they are trying to do things like paint and put decoratively informative graphics up on the walls. Can chairs be next, please? Granted, I’m out of here come September, but if they could find it in their hearts to replace the chairs that, judging also by the upholstery, haven’t been new since 1998, my scoliosis would thank them. That’s pretty much it, except that also I am staring a fund for a green Haworth desk chair.

 

This Rug is Bananas!

Can I just say, I want this rug.
Nay, I need this rug somewhere in my house. 
Possibly the bathroom.

jonathan adler banana rug $165

 Other than that, happy Tuesday- the day I'm at school all day working on my portfolio, drinking coffee and then having dinner beers & burgers at The Counter with friends before yet another class. Then I get to drive home at 10pm. 
Have a banana.
Brilliant.

Let's Talk About Public Bathrooms.

 I always want to discuss this issue, but it seems like a lame topic, and nobody usually cares to listen. I say, “Can I just tell you how much I hate the public restrooms?” and people pretty much look at me like I have a screw loose. I’m not saying I don’t, I just think that this may be a pertinent issue to discuss.

            Public restrooms are disgusting enough, even if they are kept very clean. I’ve always felt that one should need to touch as little surface area as possible. People think of restrooms as “accessible” if they have a handicapped stall and free floating sinks against the wall with pull up space. “Yay!” they say, “Everyone is happy now.”  This is definitely not “yay”, and I am not happy. Nobody thinks about the regular stalls and how grossly close the quarters are.

Here I am in the mall with my arms full of bags, and I go into a stall with bad lighting, bang my arm and the bags against the stall wall that looks smeared with some kid’s spit soaked fingers, and curse. My jeans practically wipe the toilet bowl as I back up enough to get all the way into the stall and close the door. Then I’m already practically sitting down because there is no space to stand while I attempt to hang my bags and purse on the single hook that’s screwed precariously on the door. By then, I already feel disgusting and flustered as I try to unroll some toilet paper which someone has inevitably refilled upside down, so the “clean” part of the roll is resting on the nasty metal receptacle that has a trash can attached with some I-don’t-wanna-know-what-the-hell-that-is poking out if it. By the time I wipe off the toilet seat, get a liner down and actually start peeing, it’s been 5 minutes and my fiancé is starting to wonder if I fell in.

We need to reset the minimum standards for “accessible” public restroom stalls! I never use the handicapped stall unless it is an emergency or all that is available, because as uncomfortable as I feel in a regular stall, it’s obviously impossible to get a wheelchair or crutches in there. Sometimes, there is a second stall that is larger, but not quite large enough for a wheelchair. Those are my favorite, and those should be the minimum requirement for every stall’s dimensions. I’m 5’6, and 125 pounds. I’m not a particularly large individual, and I feel like a bulky bull in a China shop every time I go into a standard minimum dimensioned bathroom stall.  I could understand if this was only in older facilities, but even new buildings seem to include this gross oversight.

What happened to Universal Design? Universal design is true accessibility, and I thought it was supposed to be the new standard! Let’s go over these 7 design principles and marvel at how much a public restroom stall does NOT adhere to them.

1.      Equitable Use- The design must be usable and marketable for ALL.

2.      Flexibility in Use- Again, for all. There is no flexibility in a space that a skinny person can’t even turn around in.

3.      Simple and Intuitive- The design must be easy to use regardless of any physical or mental barriers.

4.      Perceptible Information- The area must non-verbally or literally communicate enough information so that everyone knows how to use it. This may be the only standard that it masters.

5.      Low Tolerance for Error- It is highly possible that I’ll inadvertently bump against the trash receptacle and get an STD. Awesome.

6.      Low Physical Effort Required- By the time I’m done trying to turn around without falling into the toilet, hang my bags up and lock the door, I’m exhausted.

7.      Size and Space for Approach and Use- Um, obviously inadequate.

Please, dear building code writer, help us.

Its so irritating that I had to blog about it

Ok, seriously? 

I spend time carefully placing RELEVANT links inside my blogs so that you can conveniently get to whatever site I'm talking about and join me in yelling "Brilliant!" as you print out a template to make your own Christmas tree garland or what have you.

That said,

Who the h-e-double hockey sticks decided that every other word should have a link on it with some relevant and non-spammy annoying ad that pops up at you if your cursor goes anywhere near it? WHO?!?! 

End rant.