Adriana in DC's Profile

Lovely home! Very colorful and pulled together. I have to say, the thing I'm most jealous of is that you've been living in the same apartment for five years! I've had to move every year due to rent hikes, and Columbia Heights is a fantastic locale.

Loving the corgis as well. Mine says hi!

The Samsung Galaxy SIII has a removable battery - you can just buy a spare. Very small profile and perfect fit for your phone.

I found this problem a lot on Amazon as well. I would go and look for something I needed (the occasional food item that is cheap on Amazon and delivered to my door, or a gift for someone else), and wind up with books in my cart because they were inexpensive and eligible for Prime shipping.

Since then, I bit the bullet and ordered a Kindle. I will never stop reading, so the books weren't terrible buys, but they take up SO MUCH room in my home! With the Kindle, I will be able to take out books from the library, borrow books from the Kindle lender's library, and occasionally purchase one I want to read. It may not be a money saver but it will certainly save the space in my home. I am now weeding through the books I have in my house, reading them, and selling the ones I know I will not read again, or donating them.

I'm doing the same with clothes. Clothing is a big trigger buy for me as well, but I have much in my closet that doesn't get much wear. I am going through the rotation and selling/donating what I do not wear and love. I only just purchased new pants to replace ones that were too worn to continue to wear to work.

It appears that 2013 is the year I want to have less stuff because it seems to feel like more space, energy, and time.

I just find it weird that all these people want to entertain, but no one wants to make their guests comfortable. It's a very "my home my castle" mentality that goes against the grain of my upbringing. I was raised to make your guests comfortable.

There's also a huge difference between men and women here. Most women's shoes are not meant to be worn with socks, certainly not the thick socks I would need to wear to stay warm on hardwood floors! I just feel it is rude for people to insist their guests remove shoes (preference is one thing). I just think it is being a bad host.

At 26, I realized that having old furniture that doesn't match was unacceptable. Having a small budget (and not wanting to commit to new furniture just to move it EVERY YEAR), I figured I could refinish what I already have. Seven cans of Rustoleum Heirloom White, several cans of black paint, primers, and polycrylics later, I have dressers that match and have a more Pottery Barn vibe. I even spraypainted the hardware Oil Rubbed Bronze. Everyone agrees it is a huge improvement, and I was able to refinish two pieces of solid, but ugly, furniture into pieces that I love! And the best part is, when I move, if they get dinged or scraped, I can just sand down and paint over it.

After that I went a little crazy and painted bathroom tiles to use as coasters and painted an old glass vase navy blue to match my living room. Slowly but surely, turning an apartment into a home...