Living Room.

Ok- there is seriously no rhyme or reason to how this uploader-thinngy puts up pictures- gr! Anyways, before getting into more apartment re-d0 talk, I wanted to show you guys my latest purchase!

This is Sandy Strong- and she is the mascot of Golisano Childrens Hospital. I really cannot say enough amazing things about the hospital, but I'll try to give you a little example. Most of the time, kids are really afraid to come into the hospital, especially the really little kiddos. One way that nurses and the child life specialists try to help them adjust to their stay in the hospital is to give them little Sandy dolls. Before any procedure (from taking routine vital signs to major surgeries) these little dolls (or really any stuffed animal/doll) are used to show the little ones what we will be doing. We can show them how we will take a blood pressure, how we will change their bandages, etc. This is really helpful in calming them, and allowing them to be a participant in their care. So anyways, I picked up one of these keychains to proudly show my support : ) yay!

Back to the apartment business. So I got this rug at IKEA in Toronto. Fun fact- the US and Canada do not have the same currencies. Who woulda thought, right? Well you probably would have, but I didn't. And my "inexpensive" IKEA trip turned out to be a lot more expensive than I thought due to the exchange rate. Also, I thought that I had remembered an IKEA right across the US/Canadian border at Niagara falls, but the morning that we left, I couldn't seem to find directions to that location, so we drove all the way to the Toronto IKEA- which turned out to be a 4 hour drive due to traffic. And wouldn't you know... right as we finally get out of the bumper-to-bumper Toronto traffic, and are about to cross back into America- we see the other IKEA. But, even with the extra 3 hours of traveling time, it was worth it, and I got lots of fun and cute items :)

I got these couches from a graduating med student. They were an awesome deal, but I need to figure out how to clean them....

So this is a desk that I picked up from craigslist for $25. I plan to DIY it, and eventually it will be used to hold a TV and appleTV that I am hoping to get for my birthday... *hint, hint* : ) Having cable doesn't really make sense for me, because as a nurse, your hours are all over the place, and so I'd never really get to watch anything with consistency. This way, I can stream netflix and hulu, and get all the shows that I want, when I have time to see them!

This picture really disappoints me. The gallery wall looks so much cuter in person! Oh well... I eventually plan to cover almost the entire wall with pictures and art, but I ran out of frames- and I'm very picky about my frames.

I filled my gallery wall with pages from my favorite books (Alice in Wonderland, Harry Potter, and The Adventures of Huck Finn are displayed so far)

Photos of my favorite people (This is my sister's wedding!! Isn't she the prettiest bride, ever?)

And art from my favorite Esty vendors. This one came from a woman who lives in Arroyo Grande, CA. I found it hilarious that the street that she lives on is Tally Ho! Road. (Well I added the "!" but it seemed like it belonged there)

So, I still have a long way to go. I need to buy some side tables, a coffee table, and more decorations, but I think it will turn out really cute when I'm all done!!