Stephanie Briones

The Holidays are upon us

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Briones) — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 22:30:00 +0000

Every year I say we are going to get a head start on our Christmas shopping, but then I realize it's the second week of November and that I'm not going to get a head start after all. But I've done much better this year than years prior so, I can be a little proud of myself. [ I mean, us ;) ]

This year we decided to make Christmas simple. It shouldn't be about racking our brains until the very last minute to buy everyone something that may or may not be that special. So, most of our gifts this year will be handmade (by someone else or by me) and definitely enjoyable, I think, by everyone. I've already ordered all the gifts for the ladies in the family, and have received some of it. I love the first part so much that it'll be hard giving it away :) I can't tell what it is yet because my family reads this, but I will tell that I ordered said gifts from Etsy.

The men's gifts on the other hand, are not handmade, (it's hard to find useful, affordable handmade things for men that they'll ACTUALLY use and enjoy). But they are still awesome. Decided based on personal experience too. We think if they really use their gift, they will love them.

So anyway, the handmade gifts are not only going to save us a little money, (we still have to mail everything!) but I think that they're some of the nicest things yet and I wouldn't mind getting them myself!

After Christmas, I will post some more info on the gifts that we decided on. Until then, happy (a little early) holidays!

Got my hair cut today!

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Briones) — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 20:47:00 +0000

I was going to take a 'before' picture before I went to the salon, but I forgot, so I took this one in the waiting area with my iPhone. It's a little dark, but it shows how long my hair was getting. So...

BEFORE:

...and

AFTER:

Despite how it looks, I didn't get my hair colored or anything, it's just the second one was taken by the sunny window. This looks like those before/after pictures on TV where the person looks all sad and tired in the first photo, and all happy in the second one. I wasn't sad in the first one, but I am happy with my new haircut! :) Thanks, Martele!

fun with Yearbookyourself.com

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Briones) — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 03:37:00 +0000

Me in 1990. I think I look a lot like my mom did in 1990 :)

Me in 1968. Hmm, me with dark hair.

Me in 1966. One of my favorites.

Me in 1964. Another favorite. The glasses are awesome.

Me in 1960.

Me in 1984. I'm pretty happy that I wasn't old enough during this, to do that to my hair. :)

Go have fun! You can try every other year from 1950 to 2000.

Yearbookyourself.com

Fall Cleaning

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Briones) — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 17:25:00 +0000

Since we decided we weren't moving right away when our lease ends on October 31st, I've begun to give the apartment a really good cleaning. Lat week I worked on the kitchen, although it needs to be done again. On Wednesday I started with the bedroom: vacuumed the lampshades, dusted and washed the bed side tables, vacuumed the carpet and even got in that stubborn area that butts up against the trim and while I was at it, I changed the sheets and duvet, took off the mattress cover and washed it. Sorted all the junk that was piling up on our bed side tables, books, magazines, coffee cups, etc. Thursday I cleaned up our entry way swept/mopped the linoleum, put away needless clutter, etc. I still have a whole lot to do.

I found some awesome things at goodwill yesterday. A couple brand new, still wrapped shadowboxes with a decorative key in them from IKEA, $0.99 each.

A framed replica of an antique map of Virginia, Delaware, and Maryland, with pieces of Pennsylvania and New Jersey near the edges. It's in a really nice wood frame, professionally framed too, only $3.99.

A vintage jar that I want to use to make a moss terrarium like madebymavis makes, here in the C-bus area, actually. I just can afford to spend the extra money on her beautiful works of art. I'm just gonna have to settle for a DIY one. So the jar was $0.99, now I just have to figure out where to get the moss. The moss mostly takes care of itself, that's why it's the perfect plant for me. We also need a little bit more of the outside, here in this dimly lit, window-starved apartment.

A cute little blue dish that looks like a flower for my night stand. I wanted something to put my earrings, necklaces, hair things, and such in when I go to sleep. It's such a pretty blue, $0.49.

Last, but not least. A set of 4 old office stamps. I'm not sure how old they are, but they're that vintage green and actually have metal on them, so they can't be too new. I'm going to try to figure it out, but either way, they were a steal at $0.49 each. They say "Paid, Copy, Entered, and Billed." I wasn't 100% sure they would work, they weren't covered, they are self-inking so I wasn't sure if the old ink would be dried up or not, and they were a little dirty, but I wanted to try anyway. I took them home, ran them under really hot water so that I could hopefully get the most cleaning effect out of the least possible amount of water. Lucky me, it worked! The hot water cleaned them, and they stamp perfectly on their own.

So all-in-all, my Goodwill trip yesterday was a success, and I found some things that will help me spruce up our apartment.

Apartments and such.

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Briones) — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 03:28:00 +0000

Well, after using our whole weekend up on searching for the perfect apartment ... or just an average apartment, we have decided that the best thing for us right now is to go month to month in our current apartment. Today was the deadline for that decision, and we both feel good about it. It's not what we thought we wanted, but I think it's a relief. Now we can decide what to do when we're ready. It's actually nice to not be in a real lease anymore. We paid our final 1-year lease rent today.

Apartment Hunting

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Briones) — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 01:39:00 +0000

Well, we spent basically all weekend looking for a new apartment. It's funny. We really don't like ours all that much, but compared to what we've seen in the last couple days, ours looks great. We may end up having to go month-to-month in our current place while we seek out our dream apartment. It just seems like this apartment hunting thing should get easier over time. I think it just keeps getting harder.

What I want in an apartment. (100th blog post!)

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Briones) — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 18:03:00 +0000

I've been looking for apartments online probably since 5 months after we moved into our current one. I am so unimpressed with all the apartment complex apartments around here. If we have to live in another complex, I'd be happier with a townhouse. We're both sick of living on the 3rd floor, although it's the quietest, bringing groceries up here is miserable. There's an elevator in our building, only one, and it's on the complete opposite side of the building and works only half of the time, so getting in it is quite a risk.

So, I wanted to list out what I want, and I'm sure Ryan wants in our new apartment, which really needs to be found within the next 30-40 days. We give our complex our 30 day notice in 25 days.

What we need:

We can get by with a 1 bedroom, 1 bath apartment. It has to allow pets and have central heat and air. We have had the smallest kitchen ever for the last 10-11 months so I will have to say that a kitchen that we feel comfortable cooking in is a requirement.

What we want:

We would love to have something with more character than the ever so popular 90's built complexes with dark oak kitchens and beige carpeting. It would be nice to find an older updated place with wood flooring and a fireplace that works. Maybe a half-double with an upstairs. We also want to have a deck or patio so that we can have a grill. A fenced-in yard for Daisy would be great. New appliances, 2 bathrooms, and lots of natural light are among the other things that would make us happy. It also has to be in our price range. Is that so much to ask for? :)

Hope to find it soon.

A sweet birthday gift:

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Briones) — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 11:13:00 +0000

Thanks to my awesome mother-in-law, I have $75 to spend on books from Amazon! Plus she got me a subscription to ReadyMade magazine. Thank you! I'm going to love picking out my books!

Also: Happy Birthday, Ryan! I love you!

Birthday photos at the melting pot.

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Briones) — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 04:41:00 +0000

Hop on over to: http://www.flickr.com/photos/brionesphotos/ to see our photos from my birthday dinner. Caution, may cause sudden hunger.

Birthday gift from Ryan:

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Briones) — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 16:08:00 +0000

We're on our way out to lunch, but I wanted to post what my amazing husband gave me for my birthday. He picked out this beautiful white gold pendant with black and white diamonds in it. It is so pretty. I'm wearing it to dinner tonight, so maybe I'll get some more pictures of it. Thank you, Ryan. xoxo.

Birthday gift from my awesome mom:

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Briones) — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 15:36:00 +0000

I was about to leave this morning to run a couple errands, when UPS knocked on my door and handed me a Zappos.com box! He also gave Daisy a nice bone. So this post is to thank my mom for being so sweet, and getting me these knitted boots to keep my toes warm this winter.

Love you! xoxo.

daisy cuteness.

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Briones) — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 21:05:00 +0000

Last week Daisy was helping me get ready for the craft fair. When she left to take a break, Ryan saw this dot on her nose and told her to come see me. She had a hole-punched piece of paper on her nose and was nice enough to let me take a picture of it. Cuteness.

Ryan's Haircut

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Briones) — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 20:57:00 +0000

I cut Ryan's hair last week. He said he wanted it really short, but didn't want it buzzed. It took me forever, but I think it came out ok. I think I'll be much faster next time. It's scary cutting hair!

Before:

After:

Daisy approved.

Rearranged the living room last night:

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Briones) — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 04:29:00 +0000

I don't have any "before" photos, but to give you an idea, neither of those shelves were there (on either side of the tv). The plants were on the floor and didn't get much light. I think they'll be much happier where they are now.

Portland Trip Photos: Ryan's Intro to Ruby Web Frameworks

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Briones) — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 19:55:00 +0000

Even though I'm no software developer, Ryan's talk was easy to follow, witty, and smart. The slides looked great, were funny, were clean and simple and to the point. He also gets extra points for playing Journey while people were coming in. I'm not just saying this because he's my husband, but I felt he did an incredible job, and I was very impressed. Especially since he felt like he wasn't prepared for this talk. Can't wait for the next one.

Portland Trip Photos: The city at dusk.

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Briones) — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 05:19:00 +0000

Taken from our balcony right before dark. It was quite chilly out there. Without the tripod, I wouldn't have been able to take these because I was a little shaky.

Used a cool setting on this one. It only highlights one color. Click to enlarge.

Cool night. Cool city.

Portland Trip Photos: Dinner at Rockbottom

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Briones) — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 05:13:00 +0000

Portland Trip Photos: Around the Hotel

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Briones) — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 05:07:00 +0000

Our balcony is somewhere in there.

I get butterflies just looking at this photo, (above).

pretty, curly trees.

Ryan looking unhappy that I'm taking yet another picture of him.

Portland Trip Photos: Ryan's OSCON Shots (Monday)

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Briones) — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 05:03:00 +0000

Portland Trip Photos: Dinner Lastnight

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Briones) — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 05:01:00 +0000

Dinner at the hotel's southwestern/mexican restaurant. It was okay... :)

Portland Trip Photos: Pizza Schmizza

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Briones) — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 04:56:00 +0000

We ate at this yummy pizza place for lunch yesterday.

Portland Trip: Really cool things.

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Briones) — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 18:43:00 +0000

Our hotel room is on the 11th floor of this hotel, so we can see quite a lot from the window, but the coolest thing about being so high up is that when we take the glass elevator up to our room we can see Mount St. Helens in the distance. It's beautiful. I'll try to get a picture.

Portland Trip Photos: OSCON Registration

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Briones) — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 02:18:00 +0000

after this was taken, someone walking by told us this would be a keeper.

Portland Trip Photos: Trip to the Saturday Market.

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Briones) — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 02:11:00 +0000

My lunch: a savory chicken crepe with spinach, mushrooms and a cheese sauce.

A mother or father bird feeding the babies that are hiding in the pipe.

Ryan bought a handmade clay Zelda whistle called an ocarina.

on the train back to the hotel.

Portland Trip Photos: View from our hotel room balcony.

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Briones) — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 02:07:00 +0000