Post Grads Hate: Laundry

I have never been a fan of doing laundry. I actually own enough pairs of underwear to last me about 2 months so that I can go as long as possible without doing laundry. And that is just the clothes aspect of laundry. I have 2 distinct sets of sheets and comforters too, again to avoid doing laundry.

Reasons doing laundry is the bane of my existence:

1. The laundry room is usually located in the basement. In order to get the dirty laundry to the washing machine it literally needs to go past other tenants in the building. It needs to be drug, lugged and carried while you hope no one needs to get past you on the stairwell.
2. Most of the laundry machines only take quarters. And a lot of them. I don't know about you but I don't usually have $5 in quarters lying around.
3. I've noticed there are usually 2 washers and dryers per building. These are supposed to accommodate anywhere from 6 to 25 apartments that each house at least 2 people. By my calculations that means you will always be either fighting for a machine or waiting impatiently for one to free up.
4. The dryer never actually dries your stuff. Ever. Every time I do laundry I have to hang about half the load around my room to finish drying.
5. Laundry isn't done after the clothes are dry. You still have to fold them, or hang them, or put them away in some sense.

Considering all of this, I avoid doing laundry like it's my job. My next apartment needs to have a washer and dryer unit in it so that maybe I can remedy this. It's one on a long list of requirements for my next apartment. This is also why I will not being doing laundry today.

Have a happy Sunday Post Grads!

My First Christmas Tree

This weekend I bought my first Christmas tree! It's amazing that even as a fake tree, this little $7.99 gem resembles a Charlie Brown Christmas tree.... but I still love it. I haven't decorated for Christmas since living on my own, so this tree is kind of a big deal for me. Even though I love traveling home for the holidays to my parent's fully decorated home, I think it's important to make some of my own holiday traditions as a I start to get older. This little tree will be the start of mine :). What about you all? Have you started any awesome holiday traditions of your own since graduating?

Post Grads Hate: Broken Cars

My car is a bit of a lemon. I am very much aware of this. Even so, I love her. She is a trooper and has gotten me through many a road trip, late night Taco Bell run, and basic every day trips around town.

Monday morning, the Shikar, as she is so lovingly named, decided not to start. My first thought was "Shit, I don't have jumper cables on me." My next thought was, "F**k this is probably going to cost money." And finally, I thought enough to call my boss to tell him I'd be late.

I held out hope that my battery was dead until I finally got the jumper cables, tried to jump the car, and got no response. The engine still wouldn't even try to turnover. Which meant one of 2 things: my battery was so far gone it had to be replaced, or there was something else that was broken.

I am very lucky in that Boss Man has a spare car he is letting me borrow while mine is broken, but I still had to get the poor Shikar to a mechanic somehow. Translation: I had to PAY to get the Shikar TOWED to a mechanic. And all this before I would even know what was really wrong with her.

I got the call this morning, at work, with the diagnosis. She needs a new starter. On top of the struts I already knew she needed. Those things are a liiiitle more expensive than a new battery.

I love my car, but I hate how unpredictable the costs associated with it are. I never know when some vital part is going to decide to stop working. And I don't know which part it will be. I feel like a lot of Post Grads have this same issue. We work so hard to budget our money to afford life, to pay off our loans, to be able to take a trip home for one holiday out of the year. When our cars break down it can be really detrimental.

As always, the Shikar has taught me that I am grateful for even having a car, and that I should somehow learn how to plan for these things better.

Apartment Detox

This weekend I completed the "throw away 50 things" challenge from my last post. Let me tell you, it was an amazing experience. It reminded me of one of those those fancy rejuvenating juice cleanses that eliminates your toxins, except for your apartment. Or so I've heard.... I don't have the will power needed for juice cleanses.

I'm pretty positive that I could easily find about fifty more things in my place to trash and will definitely repeat this "apartment detox" in the next few months. Having less clutter around helps me to feel at peace, which is exactly what I need after a long day of work. Here's photo evidence of my results:

In the mix: shrunken clothing, old credit card bills, assorted beauty products, old magazines, college papers, uncomfortable shoes, art project disasters.. the list goes on and on.

In addition to my cleaning binge this weekend, my boyfriend and I went pumpkin picking and carved them up Saturday afternoon! I carved mine into a nighttime scene, as depicted below. Did anyone else know that white heirloom pumpkins have light green insides? You learn something new everyday..

Throw Away 50 Things

I have a little bit of an issue with throwing things away. I'm not a hoarder by any means (you've seen my apartment! I have proof!), but I do sometimes find myself attached to certain things that hold "sentimental value" that really just clutter up my life and surroundings. Old copies of the magazine I wrote for in college? Sure, it would be fine to save one of those.. except I found about ten copies of each issue in my old college backpack the other day. A necklace that I bought for a school dance in high school? It might hold a sweet memory, but I had questionable taste back then, and it's pretty much just clogging up my jewelry box at the moment.

There's also plenty of un-sentimental clutter, like the almost empty Bath & Body Works lotions I save just in case I need to smell like Cherry Blossom or Sensual Amber someday. Or the old bank statements that accumulated on my desk before I finally went paperless.

So, this weekend I plan to use an idea I read about on the website Makeunder My Life and throw away 50 things in my apartment. The fifty items can include clothing, outdated paperwork, or even smaller things smaller things like makeup or dried up highlighters (yup, pretty sure I've got some of those laying around too). I'm planning to donate anything that's in good shape, but the rest of my junk will be finding a new home in the dumpster.

Stay tuned for photos.. this should be interesting. Anyone else want to take part in the challenge with me? Link up your blog below!

What's Your Walk Score?

One of the major priorities I keep in mind when apartment hunting is walkability. I love where I live in Rochester because I have restaurants, cafes, and grocery stores all within a few blocks of my apartment. I know wherever I live next, I will have to be positive that I can walk to at least some nearby attractions.

It was pretty easy for me to determine where I wanted to live in Rochester since I went to college nearby and could scope out neighborhoods before my move, but this wouldn't have worked if I was moving across the country for a new job. Thankfully, Walkscore.com exists as a useful tool for post grads that might be moving to a brand new area and are looking to live in a walkable neighborhood.

The Walk Score website is extremely easy to navigate and provides a "walk score" for any address or city in the U.S on a scale from 0-100. For example, the walk score for my current apartment is an 82/100.. pretty good in my opinion! The walk score for the town where Shikole and I grew up? 6/100. This is why we moved to cities, people.

Another valuable tool on the website is their new apartment search/ commute calculator. No one likes to be stuck in an hour of traffic after working 8 hours. This tool helps you to locate apartments near your job and takes into consideration your preferred mode of transportation for commuting (by foot, public transportation, or car).

Hope you find some of these tools helpful! Let me know if any of you have experiences with Walk Score!

City Mouse

Allow me to paint the scene for you.

It's Wednesday night. I had just come home from an awesome night celebrating my friend's birthday and tasting Oktoberfest beers. I walked into my kitchen leisurely for a glass of water, flick on the light and see something tiny and brown scurry under my microwave. I let out a scream that probably woke up neighbors on both sides of my apartment.

I have never seen a live "wild" mouse in person, only in pet stores and in cages. We found a dead mouse in the apartment I lived in last year, but it was almost a given in that space. The apartment was run down, and old, with lots of nooks and crannies for mice to hide. But not my new apartment!! I clean diligently here, it appears like my apartment is sealed off, and my building is well maintained.

With my adrenaline pumping, I cornered the mouse, tipped up its little microwave hiding spot, and screamed again as the tiny mouse came hurdling right towards me after an HOUR of luring it out. I used my broom to scare it back away, and it jumped off of my counter and under the refrigerator. I spent the next hour googling "things mice hate". Eventually I fell asleep at 2 am, petrified that I would wake up with a mouse in my bed.

Mouse: 1 Allie : 0

This weekend, my boyfriend baited traps with peanut butter and we hoped to lure my new furry roommate out from under the fridge. All weekend long we noticed that the traps were moved slightly, and peanut butter had been eaten.. but no mice were being caught! 

Mouse: 2 Allie:0

So, I'm taking more preventative measures. Did you know that mice hate the smell of dryer sheets, cayenne pepper, and mint? Right now my kitchen smells like an overly seasoned laundry room.

Anyone have any ideas for trapping this guy that I haven't thought of? I'm thinking about borrowing a friend's cat..

Home Sweet Apartment

I showed you all a few pictures of my apartment when I had just moved in back in May, but I thought I would share a few more since I've been settled for a few months. Living on my own as a post grad has been the best decision I've made in a long time. While I'm not opposed to having apartment-mates in the future, they will need to be friends that I know I'm compatible with.

Here are a few photos of my finished apartment and some suggestions for furnishing your first solo place!

Tip #1: USE CRAIGSLIST. My coffee table, tv stand, desk, swivel chair, bookcase, and kitchen table are all from Craigslist. I get a little weirded out buying couches or chairs from Craigslist (I worry about bed bugs or other infestation issues), but I know plenty of people that have been successful getting couches off of the website. If you are comfortable with used things, you could literally furnish your whole apartment with affordable second hand items.

Tip #2: Dual purpose pieces. After a ton of research, I ended up purchasing my futon from Walmart for about 150 dollars. I chose this one because I knew I wanted to have friends and family come visit me and have a comfortable place to sleep. It's pretty comfortable as a couch and also opens up into an awesome sleeping area.

Tip #3: Choose your splurges carefully. I love interior design and design blogs, so it's easy to be swept away by adorable pieces I see. My splurge item will always be bedding, and eventually when I move into a larger apartment, and comfy sectional couch. My splurge for this apartment was my flower chair. It was a little over a hundred dollars from Target, but I thankfully had a 50 dollar gift card to put towards it, making it much more reasonable.

Tip #4: Keep an eye on the curb. The end table next to my futon was found outside of my office next to a dumpster and I have seen a ton of awesome pieces while running through my neighborhood that I would love to take if I had the space. Craigslist may be cheap, but curbside shopping is free!

Tip#5 Pay attention to apartment bulletin boards. I haven't gotten any of my pieces this way, but people use the bulletin board in my apartment building all the time when they are moving and looking to get rid of things. I've seen free chairs, tables, and couches listed.

Post Grad Pets

My office is located near the downtown area of Rochester, yet we still seem to attract animals like crazy. Outside of my office we have tons of pigeons and squirrels (not uncommon for a city), woodchucks, about a month ago we found a stray puppy, and most recently a stray kitten. Most of my co-workers are animal lovers (one of them even adopted the stray dog we found.) But we can't help but wonder what's going to show up once we find a home for this cat.  A horse?


What our office stray cat looks like :)

 All of the strays coming around have me thinking about post grad pet ownership. Growing up, I never had a dog or cat (my dad is allergic to animal hair) so I got my childhood animal fix by riding horses. I thought for the longest time that the second I got my own place, I would get a dog or cat to call my own.

Now that I finally have my own place, I've realized that I'm not at a point in my life where I can take care of an animal just yet. From what I can tell, having a puppy is like having a small child and I'm just not home enough to give one the attention it deserves (did I mention I also live in a studio and I love large dog breeds?) While cats have become the new "starter pet" for our generation, I still wouldn't feel right adopting one until I was in the exact right place in my life.

I also thought maybe I would wait until I moved in with a significant other before making a dog purchase. Two sets of hands is better than one with a puppy, right? From what I hear, having a love puppy can be complicated too. I have a friend who took his ex girlfriend to court over a dog they shared and eventually lost custody even though he covered most of the dog's expenses.

I'm interested in learning about your post grad pet experiences! Did you get a pet as soon as you graduated? If so, what kind? Do you find it's tough to take care of  the animal now, or was getting a critter in your twenties the best decision you've ever made?

I'm looking into animal shelters where I can volunteer to get my animal fix. Until then, youtube videos of cute animals will just have to suffice.

Save or Splurge

As a recent grad, your probably are pinching pennies wherever you can, I know I am! Lately, I've been realizing that buying cheap is not always best thing to do in all situations. Here's a list of a few things that I find are worth splurging on and a few that aren't.

Splurge

Healthy Food: It sucks that organic and healthier food choices are priced so much higher than mac&cheese and sugary cereal, but healthy food is something I would recommend spending the money for, at least in moderation. Your body needs good food to fuel you throughout the work day.

Car Maintenance: Get your oil changed, tires rotated, and brakes inspected regularly. Putting off simple car maintenance because of cost can lead to worse (more expensive) problems down the road for your vehicle. You can often find coupons for general maintenance on garage websites.

A Good Mattress: One of the key ingredients to every productive day is a good nights sleep. Take it from a girl who slept on an aero-bed (type of air mattress) for a year and a half...until it started deflating.. Invest in a comfortable mattress.

Your Health- Is your tooth killing you? Have you been coughing for two months? See a doctor so your sickness doesn't progress to something much worse. An emergency room visit is going to cost you way more than a a visit to your doctor.

Save

Apartment Furniture/ Decor- I love browsing design blogs and daydreaming about my perfect post grad apartment as much as the next girl, but furniture is expensive. Thrift stores, craigslist, garage sale pieces, and furniture warehouse sales are an excellent way to avoid spending your paychecks on new overpriced pieces.


Clothing- I hope I don't offend any fashionistas out there, but I really don't believe that clothing is an investment. It's awesome to have nice clothes that you can wear multiple times in many different ways. Spending a little more money on a black dress you will wear a few times every week is definitely worth it. That being said, dropping 1,000 dollars or more on "the perfect purse" at this point in our lives should probably never be factored into your monthly expenses (unless you've saved up the money or have the means to do so).


Alcohol/ Dining Out- You may have wised up to this one in college, but drinking can be expensive. The same goes for eating out. A 6 dollar cocktail here and 15 dollar dinner there might seem like nothing, but they add up fast. Setting a monthly budget for these types of expenses is a good way to stay on track.


Cable- Cable prices are outrageous and with most networks providing their shows online, they are quickly becoming unnecessary. Hulu, Netflix (their nasty little rate hike is still cheaper than cable), and Itunes are a great options for watching the shows you love.


I'm thinking Save or Splurge might be an interested piece to do weekly. What do you all consider worthwhile investments at this point in your post grad career?

Procrastination

You thought it ended after graduation didn't you? Turns out it doesn't. I used to bake as a procrastination method. Below is a list of things I need to do but instead have been watching Dollhouse:

1. Laundry
2. Reading David Sedaris
3. Vacuuming my room
4. Finding the vacuum
5. Cleaning the bathroom
6. Buy toilet paper (don't worry, I'm not completely out yet)
7. Making lunches for work
8. Throwing out useless items like a welcome letter from the George Washington University Hospital. (I'm not sure what they are welcoming me to, I don't work/study/go there.)
9. Cleaning my car, inside and out. There's sap on the windshield and I'm afraid of the backseat. I found Apples to Apples in the trunk though!

Is there anything you are currently procrastinating?

Beating the Heat

This summer I seem to be stuck in a strange sort of unmotivated state. I'm not sure if it's the heat or work frying my brain, but I'm finding that all I really want to do these days is be near water, or taking part is some sort of cliche summery activity. I've already done mini golf this season, I've gone to the lake, I saw fireworks for fourth of July, and I've been swimming every weekend (although it's in an indoor lap pool, so that doesn't really count).

Unfortunately, I haven't had the motivation to blog much, or use the gym as much as I should, and all of a sudden grocery shopping and other chores that I actually enjoyed doing when I first moved into my place aren't so fun anymore. This past winter, I loved doing all of these things.


It's time for me to get out of this lazy-hazy-crazy days of summer mindset and start accomplishing some personal goals.


How do you all kick start your routines during the summer? Does anyone else feel like they've been in a summer daze the past few weeks?

Giant Chicken

One of the great parts about being a post grad is that we have the freedom to make questionable decisions whenever we please, and can usually afford those decisions. Right now Allison and I are searching the internet for a Giant Metal Chicken. You read that correctly, and it is exactly what it sounds like.

I was first introduced to this idea by a friend this morning who sent me a random link. The link contained a hilarious blog post that made going to work an hour early almost worth it. Enter: The Giant Metal Chicken.

As you may remember, I recently moved. My kitchen is currently empty in the way of decor. After reading the above post, I have my heart set on filling the space with a Giant Metal Chicken. A friend and I spent a good amount of time last night trying to find one online. We failed. I am disappointed and stunned that the internet could produce nothing even close to what I was looking for when I searched "giant metal chicken."

There are so many uses for this hunk of metal I don't own yet. I could scare guests. I could scare my roommates. It could hold potholders on its beak. It could be cool. It would require no upkeep. Maybe it could even be used as a bottle opener. The possibilities are endless. But for now, my dreams of owning a giant metal chicken need to be put on hold. If any of you know where I can find one please let me know. It needs to be at least 5 feet tall.

Junk In My Trunk

This weekend, the search for my next vehicle finally came to an end. I'm trading in my 2002 Dodge Neon for a 2008 Hyundai Elantra. I thought I would be filled with joy when I finally found a replacement for the car that has given me one problem after another for years.... but I'm actually feeling very nostalgic. My little red neon was my first car and has been through a lot with me. My last two years of high school, four years of college, and it even survived it's first Rochester winter.

Today as I cleaned out my car, I was amazed at how much I had collected in the vehicle during our 7 year relationship. Here's some of what I found.

-Literally fifty mixed cds. Before the days of the ipod, I made mixed cds for all of my car trips. I can't wait to listen to the cd's and relive my high school years one Dashboard Confessional song at a time.

-Two tripods. Anyone want one?? haha

-Three flashlights. None with working batteries.

-Directions to SUNY Geneseo from the first time I ever drove up alone (I'm thinking about framing those)

-3 tennis balls. I'm guessing these were from the summer Shikole and I tried to learn to play tennis together??

-A picnic blanket

I know soon I'll adjust to my new Elantra, but I can't help but be sad about all of the memories I'll be leaving behind when I drive away from the car on the lot. I hope the Neon's next owner has as many good memories as I have had with the car (and hopefully not as many repairs!!)

Making the Best of It

It seems like the U.S. News and other media sources publish about 5 lists a year outlining the "best cities for recent graduates" or "best cities for young people". It's exciting to read about the top ten cities highlighted and imagine what life could be like living there. But what if your city/ town/ village/ hamlet doesn't make the cut? (I grew up in a hamlet.. that's when a place is too small to even be considered a village ...yeah..picture that one).

Does it mean you should spend your days badmouthing your surroundings until you can make it to one of the post grad cities on this list? No! Unless you enjoy being miserable.

When I made the decision to move to Rochester, NY after graduation, most people said, "why????" There were even a few "ewws" thrown in for good measure. In fact, the only list I've ever seen Rochester appear on was one talking about cities with the most snowfall in the country.

[ The deck of my old apartment last winter here in Rochester ]

At first I let my mind get lost in the opinions of others (many of which had never even seen the city), but then I realized that if I wanted to enjoy my time here, it was time to think positively!

Want to know why Rochester gets a ton of snow? It's because we are located next to a huge lake that is absolutely beautiful during the spring/summer/fall. A lake so huge that when you sit on the beach it's like you're looking out onto the ocean.

Another perk to the Rochester snow... once winter is over, people here are always out and about! We have multiple festivals every weekend of summer.. ranging from a Lilac Festival, to Jazz Festival, to Greek Festival, Canal Days, and countless other free music events.

[ My mom on a boat ride in downtown Rochester last summer ]

I could go on and on about Rochester, but the moral of this post is simple: you are the only one who can determine how enjoyable your surroundings are. You have to make fun for yourself and seek out unique things available in the area you live.

Take it from the girl who spent 18 years living in a hamlet where the highlights included walking to the local deli/ post office... it can be done in any location.

What about you readers- do you live in a location that some might view as less than desirable? How do you make the best of it?

Tuesday

Yesterday was the most Monday-ish Tuesday I've dealt with lately.
They were installing new garage doors directly under my office which meant lots of loud drilling and hammering...all day... I also drove five hours on Monday, leaving behind a relaxing weekend at home and was welcomed by an overheated apartment, and internet that wasn't working.

Normally I would have some sort of tip on how to turn the day around, but since I'm currently updating this from the inside of my car in a Panera parking lot (due to my lack of internet), I've really got nothing.

Sometimes days are just annoying, but thankfully, there's always a new one right around the corner.

Maybe I'll leave this one up to you... how do you all turn your bad days around?

Partying, Partying, Yeah!

Sorry guys, I couldn't stop my fingers from typing a Rebecca Black reference in the title. I hope you'll keep reading!

Last week I had a few friends over to my new apartment. We had wine and dessert and it was a fun and relaxing time, until we realized we had lost track of time. It was nearly 10:15! Everyone gasped and within 10 minutes or so the girls had left and I was getting ready for bed.

I ask all of you post grads to now think back to what 10pm means in college time. At my school, 10pm on a weekend was the time BEFORE the actual party started. On a weeknight, 10pm meant that you were just getting done meeting about a group project, you were about to start your homework, or you were watching t.v. and listening to music without a care in the world because your first class didn't start until noon the next day.

One of the things I had the hardest time adjusting to after graduation was the schedule shift. I accomplished a lot in college between internships, working on the magazine, school work, and part time jobs, yet I still managed to have so much free time during the day! After graduating, I was forced to deal with the fact that the majority of my day would be spent at work.

I've got to admit, one year later and I'm still adjusting to the new "working girl" schedule. Here are a few tips I've come across along the way.

1. If you belong to a gym, do not go home in between work and working out time. Maybe some post grads have the motivation to pry themselves away from their comfy apartments and go burn a couple hundred calories, but I am not one of them.

2. Make your breaks count. I get a half hour break for work, and unless it is snowing or pouring outside, I make sure to get out of the office. Just going for a half hour walk makes my break feel completely rejuvenating and when I get back inside, I'm ready to work.

3. Give yourself a bed time! 10pm, 11pm, find a time that works for you and stick to it!

4. Make lunches ahead of time. This is something I just started doing, and it frees up about a half hour of my evenings by getting the weeks worth of lunches together on Sunday.

How do you all deal with fitting everything you want into the confines of a 9-5 work week schedule?

Apartment: After

Here are a few "after" photos of my new studio apartment! I have to say, I absolutely love living alone so far. I was worried I would find it lonely, but it's actually nice to have your own place to come home to after a long day at work/gym/errands. I'm still making a few finishing touches and the walls are definitely pretty bare, but this is the perfect place for my second post grad apartment!

I Am Now A Resident of Virginia

My lease in DC officially ended today. And I am now officially a resident of Virginia. I built my new dresser (from Walmart instead of Ikea for the first time) that seems sturdy. And I have started to unpack. I apologize for not having pictures sooner, but I could not find the batteries in all my stuff to load in my camera.

The following pictures are the semi-before pictures. The dresser is put together but nothing is unpacked yet. And the living room photos are very preliminary seeing as my 3rd roommate has not even moved in yet.

To the left is my bedroom from the doorway. To the right is my bedroom from the window. Unpacking all of that seems really daunting. I've been working on it for about 2 hours now. It looks a little better but I still have an obscene amount of crap to unpack.

Below, from left to right, is my new kitchen, living room, and balcony. The kitchen is pretty basic. The living room, as mentioned is preliminary and since taking this picture I have already moved the love seat against a different wall. I also moved the marble end table to the end of the couch. There is no TV yet, though, so I'm not sure how everything will be situated once there is a focal point. The balcony is really nice and overlooks some woods behind the apartment.

Not pictured is the bathroom (who really wants to see my new bathroom?) and the dining room. The dining room is currently just empty so I saw no reason to take a picture of it just yet. If you'd like some perspective, though, I was standing in the dining room to take both the living room and kitchen pictures.

I hope you all like my new place as much as I do. I will post more pictures after I have unpacked and it looks livable.

1 year

This coming weekend marks one year since I graduated! Like Shikole, I've decided to write a list of a few things that I want to accomplish before I hit the two year post grad mark.


1. Write and publish an e-book (a little hint for you guys.. it may have a little something to do with this blog!)

2. Finally learn how to play my guitar. I've had it since I graduated high school and can play a few Bob Marley songs and random chords. This will change over the course of the year!

3. Buy or lease a new vehicle.

4. Experiment more in the kitchen. I seem to have no problem trying out new baked things, but cooking more complex dinner foods actually make me nervous! Since I now have my own kitchen I want to experiment much more!

I'm sure there are many more goals that will pop up, but for now I think these are a good start! What about you readers, do you have a #1 goal for the next year?