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Printcopia Canvas Prints Review & a Giveaway

November 23, 2012

Printcopia is an online photo printing service that creates large format prints, canvas, acrylic, and framed prints. They are your one stop shop for your photo service needs.

I used their services to get an 11×17 canvas print. I’ve used online print services in the past but I really enjoyed getting around their site and the services they offered. One of the coolest things is that they offer is the ability to link to your instagram profile or your facebook profile to upload pictures. I use instagram so much that this is a great way to easily connect my photos to the site.

At first I was going to use a photo that Price instagrammed when we were in Chicago for his birthday but I wanted to maintain the square instagram format so I picked a photo that he took of the sun rising. For a delayed October date we went to the beach to see the sunrise on Day Light Savings day. Some Starbucks drinks, a pastry to split, and the sunrise. Now that we have this print hanging up on our first floor I will always remember our sunrise beach date.

AAAANNNND the GIVEAWAY Details!!!

Mandatory entry: Tell me what photo you would get made into a canvas print if you won? Your kids? Family portrait? A vacation?

Extra Entry: Tweet or hare on Facebook about the giveaway. Come back & leave another comment telling me what you did

Giveaway ends Thursday 29th at 11.59pm

Besides the giveaway, don’t miss out on their Black Friday Sale!!! Right now they are offering 50% canvas prints until Sunday the 25th at midnight. Don’t hesitate, it’s a great deal and this will make for a great gift.

I received an 11×17 canvas print from Printcopia in exchange for an honest review. These opinions are my own.

How To: Labeling Your Garbage Cans

June 21, 2012

Since we moved in I’ve been saying that I would spray paint the garbage cans so there would be no mix up when we take them to the curb. Everyone else’s is marked so this is not a ‘this is mine, don’t touch it!’ sort of thing. You just never know if your garbage can will go blowing down the city block after it has been emptied. I didn’t just want to freehand spray paint the cans with our house number… I wanted to give them some curb appeal!!

Well, after weeks and weeks of saying I would do it I finally got around to doing it this morning before work. Thankfully, it is super hot now so standing out side at 6am was nice as it was already 80 (I love it!!). We were armed with the stencils I made with my Cricut, but you can even make a stencil by hand or just buy some. We also had some painters tape and some Rust-oleum spray paint. It was pretty easy job and I am happy with how it came out. Still there are some things I would do differently:

Wear gloves. I only put gloves on for the last # and now part of my left hand is bright green even after scrubbing the crap out of them.
Make more stencils. I only made one ‘7’ and one ‘fleur de lis’ thinking I would just reuse it. Unfortunately, it was getting tricky at the end to reuse them and not make a horrible mess on the trash cans & my hands (see above). Should have listened to Pricer!
Mask the stencils differently. I would first position the stencils and then put the mask on. I think it would have allowed me to work easier and get crisper lines as the stencil would have been taped right to the can.

I’ve written out directions below on how I would do it next time. Once I sprayed on the first things I realized immediately the mistakes I made setting us up. Follow the directions below and you will have an easy time labeling your trash cans.

Curb appeal… I was thinking of doing a pineapple on the trash cans but our mailbox has a fluer de lis already on it so I went with that. Pick a symbol that you like to enhance the overall look!

Damn… we look good!

Labeling Your Garbage Cans

Supplies

Stencils, sized to fit your trash cans
newspaper
scissor
painter’s tape
gloves
spray paint*
garbage cans
ruler, optional

*I really suggest getting Rust-oleum’s Painter’s Touch Ultra Cover. This works on a variety of surfaces, including plastic, and there were a lot of nice colors. I used Key Lime.

Process

Identify where you want the number and/or symbol to go on the trash cans. Put a strip, or several, of painter’s tape on the trash can to create guides to position the stencils. Use a rule to help center or keep lines level, as needed.
Tape the stencils(s) to the garbage can.
Cut a piece of newspaper the size of the stencil in the center of the piece of paper. Place the newspaper shield over the stencil and tape into place.
While wearing gloves, evenly and gently spray paint the can at the stencil.
Remove the newspaper shield and the stencil gently. Lastly, remove the tape guides from the trash can.

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Complete Chaos

May 18, 2012

So movers came on Wednesday…

The 2 guys form BCB Movers were fantastic and moved the crap out of our stuff. They were so nice and efficient. They even tried to get the box spring up stairs by taking the front door off but still no-go. ugh!

And now we are living in complete chaos…

All of this mess could be why we ate popcorn for dinner last night. Or maybe why I was distracted this morning taking pictures and didn’t know my camera was on manual and they all are a blurry mess.

We still have a few trips left to do to get some stuff at the apartment but we have it all planned out and will turn over the keys on Sunday morning. And then we will take the best nap ever.

Real life and blogging will return next week. Maybe by then I will find the skirt I was attempting to wear today.

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Thanks for visiting. Please leave me a comment to provide some feedback. I appreciate all the comments I receive.

Our House

May 2, 2012

Is a very, very fine house…

(back unit- furthest from street)

WE CLOSED ON OUR HOUSE ON MONDAY!!!!!

HORRAY!!!!!

We’re really excited about the new adventure at hand. We have been discussing where different pieces of furniture can go around the house. What new pieces we can get, what to get rid of. It’s all about making this space our own. I’m super excited about the kitchen and open first floor, Pricer is excited about a man cave, and we are both really excited to have an outside space again. 🙂

Exciting first purchase (besides something I ordered online) for the house were trash cans.

And these are some pics…

view of kitchen from front door // kitchen from living room corner

view of kitchen, closet, and stair door to basement

I realized I didn’t take any photos of the living room… imagine a room with 2 windows.

closet // door to stairway to finished basement

first floor half bath

view from bottom of the stairs up to 2nd fl // view from top of the stairs to 1st fl

big bedroom

smaller bedroom

upstairs bathroom

tub // closet

finished basement from bottom of stairs

finished basement- bathroom, laundry, stairs

big wall of finished basement (perfect for a projector!)

basement bathroom with shower stall

I can’t wait until we are all moved in and we get to start to make it our own!!

spring… a new beginning

March 25, 2012

So if you’ve been following along you’d notice some posts about us looking for a place to buy. It’s been a rollercoaster ride for us with finding places online that look great but are not right for us for various reasons from location, work to do, utility costs, etc. The biggest thing is that it was hard not to get our hopes us for any one place because we had to look at the whole situation together.

Well, it seems like it is all coming together for us since seeing a place for the second time, putting an offer on it, getting a counter offer, and accepting it this weekend. Actually all in less than 24 hours. Crazy. It’s exciting, nerve-wracking, stressful, exhilarating, and so much more.

Right now everything is GO! GO! GO! since closing is scheduled for 4.30. eek!

Fingers crossed it all goes swimmingly. 🙂

Won’t you be my neighbor?

February 22, 2012

photo unrelated to blog. I took it yesterday and just love it.

As much as Price and I would love to get the hell out of Dodge (Boston/New England) we have been coming around to the idea of sticking around for a bit longer than we originally planned. So we calculated what we would be spending on rent over the next few years and what we realized is that is would basically suck to continue to rent. Sure there are benefits when it comes to maintenance, such as the woman upstairs from us flooded her apartment and the building management is dealing with the damage to our apartment. But at what cost does that come to?

We decided to do some online searching for what and where we could afford in the Boston area and have begun to look at places. We saw 3 places this past weekend in East Boston.

First Listing: This was actually a single family house. It is located behind another house that has 3 units in it. This is 2 story, 3 bedroom + 2 bath house. I like this most because of the face that there is so much room in it, including a full basement and pull down attic. The kitchen layout is horrible which I really dislike but still trying to envision how we would make it work. This was the most expensive one we looked at but again, it was the largest.

Second Listing: This one looked like it could be viable option because of it’s price, it is a 2 bedroom + office, the kitchen is old but the layout would make for an easy update, and there are washer dryer hook ups in the unit. However, after further discussing it, we decided that it had a weird layout, no view (balcony looked onto a parking lot), and a 3rd story walk up. Yes, we would hire movers to haul all those boxes and furniture up there but I am more concerned with the day to day stuff requiring trips up the flights of stairs… like my heavy purse, groceries, and baby carrier.

Third Listing: Right away we dismissed this last one because of the uneven floors. It had new flooring, kitchen, bath but the bones were not good.

So it was an interesting start to our search process.

Besides looking in East Boston, we are going to drive to other areas that we are unfamiliar with this weekend so we can see if we would want to look at any houses/condos in that area. I have to admit that I am being a bit stubborn about looking in different areas. Not because of any good reason, only because of commute times. Our current commute is 35 minutes on the train so I would like to reduce that (by a lot) if possible. The train ride from Maverick (in East Boston ) is 6 minutes, but could be a longer walk. Places like Malden only have an 11 minute train ride so we are going to look there as well as Chelsea, which would only have about a 20 minute. Oh the possibilities.

These are the things I have been considering for each of the places we look at…

we are looking for a 2 bedroom, 1 bath places in the 850+ sf range

within a mile of a train station or bus stop

house > 2nd floor > 1st floor > 3rd floor

laundry in unit > laundry in building’s basement

deeded parking > resident permit parking (long shot)

old kitchen + low price > new kitchen + high price

With all that said…

What things did you consider when buying your place? What were your must haves and wants? What suggestions do you have? What did you learn from the process? Did anything scare you that you were not expecting?

I’d love to have some input.

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Thanks for visiting. Please leave me a comment to provide some feedback. I appreciate all the comments I receive.

row row row your boat

March 16, 2010

Where to begin?

Maybe Saturday morning when the rain started?

Or Sunday when the rain kept pouring down?

Maybe at the point when I’m just waking up Monday morning to hear Price yelling,”the apartment is flooding!!!”

Yep, that is a good starting point.

So with those words our Monday began. And what a Monday it was.

6:20– I grab my glasses, or maybe they were already on, whatever, and run out of our room to see Price at the point where the water was in our living room. I run through the water to my scrapbooking paper tote on the floor, in the water, and hoist it up to the chair (yay, saved like $200 worth of paper!). Price is running around trying to figure out what the hell is going on. There is lots of yelling, and grabbing things off the floor.

“Is it coming out the windows? Is the printer ruined?”

“No, it’s not the windows, it’s not the walls.”

“Oh my god!”

“It’s in the office”

“Is the computer okay?”

I run outside, barefoot, in the rain, to the front of the house to get our landlord. Frantic door bell ringing does not work, back in the house to get my phone to call them.

“S, sorry to wake you but the apartment is flooding.”

Back down stairs there is running around in water trying to grab things and move them to higher ground.

6:30– The water was only an inch and a half or so but the area it is effecting was pretty big- whole living room, bathroom, office, closets- and it is spreading and rising (another 1 in the deepest area). With the homeowners witnessing the destruction of their property they got to work quickly helping us move things and figuring out what to do. Mission critical- get a sump pump. Since the basement* has never, ever flooded before they did not have one. It never even crossed their minds that it would happen, otherwise they would have never put hardwood floors in there, which S tells me as she is rolling up her pants. And these are not the pop in place home depot floors, these are the professionally laid, sanded, polished floors.

7.00– Finding a sump pump in a state that has been experiencing wide spread flooding due to rain amounts 8-10 inches in 2 days is nearly impossible. Luckily, G finds one at S’s office building. we can’t find the point of origin for the water. Clearly it is coming up but from where? Most of the water is in the middle of the apartment, but there is not obvious source there- no sub floor piping access. One of the lowest points is checked, under the tub. Yeah, lots of water there. So the sump pump is put there and the garden hose is shoved in the tub so the water has a place to drain. This poor little pump is working hard to keep things at bay, and it seems like a losing battle as we discover water coming in from the South end of the house. Shit, move the bed! Our box spring is now wet. Ahhhh! Chaos continues, G manages to get another sump pump one held for him in Worcester- a good 45 minutes away. Plumber is called to come to see if there is anything he can do.

8: 45- Calling work to let me know I’ll be late. Duh.

until 10– Price and I are “cleaning” things up as the 1 sump pump is chugging away. I drive the 3 blocks down(it’s raining!) to the best bakery ever to get breakfast and Price a big coffee. The rabbits have been moved. They are royally pissed because this is normally their out of cage time. Jack is scared/angry and protesting by picking up the castle with his teeth and slamming it back down.

On the bright side, Monday is trash day so I start carrying out some ruined items to the curb. Our living room rug, an otoman, a decorative pillow that became a sponge. The water went into our office closet. The one with all our architectural drawing and model materials. So I’m carrying out wood, large drawing pads, graph paper, and foam core to the trash. Price is wet vac-ing up the living room. We flip out bed up to let the box spring dry.

10: 45– Plumber comes. He does something under the floor where our book cases used to be. I am too distracted to care. (I later learn that he opened up some pipe causing the water to slowly drain directly into the sewer pipe)

11.05– Walking to the train to get to work. When I was first up in the morning I was sans shoes. Price made me get my rain boots on so I would not be in the cold water all morning. Well, I learned that my rain boots had holes in them. Unfreakin’ believable. I don’t even notice the wetness until I am calmed down on the train.

12.45– Price emails me saying that the water is generally gone because of what the plumber did and the 2nd sump pump G got.

4:15– Price leaves late for his 4pm class.

7:30– Price just beats me home since I stayed late to make up some hours from coming in late. He goes over the situation room by room. Our bed is flipped up so the box spring can dry, the office closet has been emptied out into the office, our tub is filthy from water the sump pump has been dumping in there.

8.30ish maybe, kinda a blur- Drinking wine. ServPro FINALLY comes. I get they are busy dealing with the other water damage in the area but thanks for being like 8 hours late. Plus, G had to commit to paying an extra $325 BS emergency fee. Total Servpro- $1525 . S is calling G to get to the house since he doubted they would actually show so he is at Home Depot buying 4 dehumidifiers. ServPro sets up 8 annoying loud fans, 2 huge dehumidifiers. No, wait, 1 keep tripping the fuse so now G sets up 2 of his to take the place of the 1 big dehumidifiers. I’m busying my self on the phone outside and checking things inside- like the 1 non-plastic box I have of photos and scrapbooks I made during highschool- damp feeling but not ruined.

10:45– I shower. Quickly. I yank as much house out of the shower as possible, rinse out the dirt, and quickly shower.

11.45– After watching (can’t actually hear) the news I crash on The Cos’ (the sofa has a name, Emily named it).

4.45– I wake up. I tip toe around the apartment, load the washer with wet dirty towels, feeding the rabbits, find clothes to wear.

6.00-I move sofa cushions and make Price move over so I can lay next to him. I break down and cry into his shirt for a min. We finally get up at 6.20 with the alarm.

7.00– on my way to work. I get an iced DD coffee and spill some of it on the floor and my leg as I sit down on the train. FML

Now- drinking more wine. Trying to tune out the loud fans. The lights are flickering because 8 huge fans, and 3 dehumidifers are taxing the system. In all about 850 sq feet of our apartment was visibly wet. The floors are buckling/cupping and the doors are expanding so it’s hard to open/close them. The rabbits are out of the apartment because I did not want the fans kicking up dust making them sick and driving them BS crazy.

I can’t wait for Thursday night since I’m driving back to CT to stay over for the night before going on to Philly to spend the weekend with my friend Dawn. My mom is going to watch the rabbits so they are out of this insanity.

*Sure we live in a basement, but it is the most tricked out apartment ever. The place was renovated within the past 8 years- solid oak hardwood floors, amazing paint job, jacuzzi, dishwasher, disposal, washer/dryer, in total about 1200 sq feet. Plus there are legit full windows in the rooms and smaller ones through out so it is not a complete cave.