First night in the new house!

I DID IT! I survived the first night alone in my new house!

my living room-cum-bedroom room!

Mom, dad, and Tanner drove down with me yesterday to help me move all my things into the new place. (and when I say all my things, I literally mean ALL MY THINGS.) We (the roommates and I) drew straws for bedrooms, and I got the 4th (and previously non-existent) bedroom that was a small living room.

cheap, but FABULOUS shelving

 Since it wasn't a bedroom to begin with, it came without a closet (and good overhead lighting, but that I can deal with) so dad put together 2 really pretty maple shelving units! I put canvas boxes (in cream and beige) to hold or hide certain things and then I put various decor in the open shelves. I have these fabulous glass replicas of famous cathedrals from around the world (St. Paul's, Westminster Abbey) that my older sister gave me a few years ago, and they fit perfectly in the shelves.

FAVORITE part of the room: my Harry Potter books

 I also used my books as one of the main decorations for the room. The living room originally had a fireplace (it's still there, but not in use) with a mantle overtop, so I used that mantle to hold my Harry Potter, LOTR, Hunger Games, and various other novels. I also added a bottle of "Sobering", which is non-alcoholic beer that they served on the set of the LOTR movies and I bought in New Zealand, and "Holy Gr-Ail", a Monty Python-inspired beer.

the Book of Books

 I also have a "book of books" which is beautiful coffee-table book that is literally filled with pictures of books. It's one of my favorite display pieces. Dad and I also set up a chest of drawers and tried to hang some things on the very bare, white walls.

 A mirror over the mantle, though small, makes the room seem, well roomier, and I'd love to buy a fancy wall mirror to hang either over the bed or on the wall next to the chest of drawers.

slightly messy, but getting settled!

we have a dining room cabinet!

 Mom also helped me put away all of the kitchen stuff (and make it look cute!) Our kitchen has lots of storage room, which is great and this will probably be my office the whole time we live in the house. The girls are particularly chefs (not saying that I am, but I enjoy cooking, baking, experimenting) and they've already decided that we're having weekly PHamily dinners that I'm in charge of preparing.

this shall be my spot forevermore

 The 'rents also took me grocery shopping to make sure I won't starve and I'd say that I'm settling in quite nicely. The rest of the house may be completely threadbare at the moment, but it'll be filled shortly enough. I can't wait for the girls to move in so we can officially say we live here!

such a cute kitchen!

I can wait for classes to start though...not looking forward to that. Well, not all of them, anyway. Arabic has got me intrigued - and I'm taking my last Spanish class at WKU. So between work (with Barbara) and classes and trying to fulfill my practice TEFL teaching hours, and taking a music class (did I mention I was learning to play the banjo?) this semester is shaping up to be unlike any before. On second thought, I can't wait!