moms are the best!

I owe my mom big time!

She came over to my place... for the long weekend... JUST to help me clean out my place for the boyfriend's parents' visit.

I celebrated July 4th by throwing out clutter that I didn't even realize existed in my house. Independence from clutter!

And the only way I got it done was because of my mommy! If it weren't for her, I'd be rushing on Wednesday trying to get the entire place spic and span.

We worked continuously for 9 hours on Friday to get rid of:

1. old books (I hate throwing books away... but I'm sure no one would want to read calculus I)
   
2. my exam papers from college
3. greeting cards/letter that took up 4 garbage bags worth of space
4. old cookware that I've been using for the past 7-8 years
5. old forks/spoons/knives that have definitely seen better days
   
6. boxes of teas that I bought two years ago and NEVER used
7. spices that have been around for 4 years (I didn't even know they existed)
   
8. clothes that still have tags on them (ugh!)
9. shoes that I've worn so much that they're falling apart. I refused to throw them away earlier because they're so damned comfortable
10. dust collectors that I don't even enjoy but..
11. too many wine bottles (the wine was drained waaaaay back but the bottles were kind of pretty) haha
    
12. jewelry that I NEVER wear. My mom finally said that she would stop buying me any kind of jewelry.... (thank god for small mercies!)

I know I threw out a lot more stuff than just this list.

Since I'll be sleeping in the guest bedroom, I bought a used Ikea loft bed off of craigslist (only $50 and used for only 5 months!!). And my bedroom color scheme is the same I had in college - fresh/bright blue and green. I've got beautiful plants hanging from the grill underneath my bed. All my pretty pictures and awesome African face masks hanging on my walls.

My piano is right next to my bed!

B-E-A-utiful!

This is one thing that my mom and I argued about. She has been wanting me to throw away the piano for the past two years and I refuse to do that. I do play it almost everyday. So why would I want to let my stress-reliever out of my house? Oh well, she finally gave in when I agreed to get rid of SOME of my books (I have 824 books now) and all the old term papers from college, greeting cards and my wine bottles.

On Saturday, mom and S and I went to Ikea to buy me some more stuff for my apartment. New knives, new cookware, new pillows, some cool stuff for my bedroom.

We then stopped by Home Depot to buy a huge pot for one of my plants. This plant has grown too tall for its pot. I should stop feeding it that much! LOL

And mom got this really bad idea in her head. She wanted to buy us a porch swing that we can put on the balcony. Her idea was that S's parents can enjoy the beautiful view of the marina, Statue of Liberty, the bay etc from our balcony.

I do have a good set of comfy chairs out there... why would I want to buy a swing? And the swing she chose was this monstrosity!

This is SO not my style!

I'd prefer a free standing hammock on my balcony. Anyways, we finally reached an agreement NOT to get a swing.

I've also called my favorite guy in the whole world to come on Wednesday and help me really deep clean the apartment. Ray has been cleaning my apartments for 4 years now. And I'd trust him with anything!

So S's parents fly in on Thursday morning at 7:45 at JFK. Well, hopefully they'll be happy with what they see (and I'm not just talking about the apartment!)

That's all I have for now. I'll try and take some pictures after the Wednesday cleaning spree. I do make my apartment sound like a dumpster.. but I can assure you its not! Its quite clean... but I'm a perfectionist and I need EVERY little thing in order.

Ciao!