In my opinion, our living room is comfy. We've not finished decorating it yet. We have a few more pillows to add. And, the things along the wall with the TV aren't permanent.
We are blessed by having a huge window in our living room. And, it has a "window seat"/ledge. Of course it is too scary to actually sit on since we live on the 7th floor and it is ALL WINDOW. :) So, we keep wedding photos on it.
If you were to sit on it and look out across our home, this is what you'd see.
We keep two baskets by the front door. One for guest slippers and one for Gilby's toys (which he has too many of and needs to declutter).
In between the living room and dinning area is a "little hallway" to the bedroom. Next to the front door in this little hallway is our shoe cabinet. And. here it is open and closed.
Here is a close up of the things hanging on the walls in our living room in addition to our new wall hanging that is.
And that's all for now. We have a guest bedroom, a study, and a hall bathroom too, but they are still in need of a bit of "spring cleaning" that will hopefully take place this summer. So, that would make it summer cleaning, but that just sounds so totally wrong! Anywho, thanks for coming along this week and touring our home from afar! :D
Like I mentioned yesterday, I totally love our tiny tropical master bathroom.
All our monkey stuff came from my bridal shower in the States--from my aunts.
When one of my aunts asked me about the back story of the monkeys my simple answer was "I took my kid brother to help me register. :)
I later double checked with Law about the monkeys and he LOVED them too.
So . . . as a result, this room saw the largest transformation due to marriage. :)
It truly is tiny. :) (The photo's kinda blurry. oops.)
Some of the really cute monkey stuff. :)
When I visited Japan, every home I stayed in had a calendar hanging across from the toilet. I have NO clue if it was just coincidence or if it is an actual Japanese cultural thing.
However, I kinda liked the idea. So, every time you hear nature's call you can review your monthly appointments. :)
Can you see why I love it? Isn't it SO cute?? :)
Tomorrow, the last day of our apartment tour, I'll show you around our living room.
We've not hung anything on our bedroom walls yet . . . it is on my to do list . . . maybe this summer.
The doorway to our bedroom is kinda unique. It opens right up into the bathroom and to the left is the bedroom.
My bedroom used to be light tan and blue. In order to keep most of the decorations that I have (lamps, wall hangings, flowers) but make it a bit more masculine, we decided to juts change the bed linens. When I was back in the States, I fall in love with this duvet cover that added a dark brown. So, my best friend gave us the duvet cover as a wedding gift.
Our closets. Unlike in America, they are not built in. Here is a little confession . . . I take up two and a hallf, Lawrance only takes up half of one . . . poor guy. However, he does get twice as much dresser drawer space--so maybe it's fair after all. Nah . . . it's probably not! :)
Here is totally boring photo . . . but this is what you can see from the bed. It is our dresser and make up table. Along with our laundry baskets. I'm not sure where I got the idea from, but we sort our dirty laundry as we throw them into the right hamper--lights, darks, and towels/sheets. (I don't like the baskets out in the open, but it is practical and there is no where else for them to go.)
And, that's it for our very simple master bedroom. :) Tomorrow, I'll show you our tiny tropical master bathroom that I just LOVE! :)
Welcome to our tiny kitchen. It is literally about 2-3 foot wide to about 7-8 foot long. We can stand side by side, but passing each other to get back and forth is not easy.
It didn't take long for me to begin to despise what I once appreciated . . . kitchen counter space!!!
At first I was SO happy with the counter top space. Very quickly I began to complain again that they were too small.
If you are standing at the door way to the kitchen, this is what you will see:
Stepping past the new fridge, you'll see the sink with the dish dryer over it. Of course if you want see exactly this view, you're going to have to step outside onto our porch.
Turning around to the left, you'll see this on the right:
and this on the left. It is our "pantry." And, yes, it is all totally open--no pantries are needed when you shop fresh at the market daily (which I don't, so hence the need for a pantry).
At the end of the kitchen, if you turn around, you'll see this.
Right behind our sink are double glass doors leading to our laundry porch.
And if you come back to the kitchen doorway and look the other way, you'll see where we eat. That's our bedroom door in the background.
This photo taken from our bedroom doorway shows the kitchen/dinning room table and cabinet where we store all the dry baking goods and Lawrance's snacks as well as keep our rice cooker, little oven, and cookbooks.
I miss seeing the seasons come and go. Here, on this little topical island, the land of eternal green, there are very minuscule changes in the landscaping from winter to spring to summer to fall.
We seem to always be able to enjoy bright flowers and green trees. So, I'm not complaining . . . just missing the changes that mark time.
When I lived in a Taiwanese farming community, I enjoyed seeing the rice fields change. But, here in the city, there is nothing to see change.
But then today, I saw it. For the first time . . . a sign of a new season. And it delighted my heart to no end.
The plumeria trees are blooming!!!!
It is AWESOME to be able to "see" a change and claim "wow, summer is coming." :)
Since you haven't seen much of him recently, here's a picture of gilby, our silly, silly dog who sometimes sits on the top of the sofa.
Oh, and just for the record, I think Lawrance might love Mr. Gibs more than I do. :)
I also just found this silly photo of him sitting on the same spot on the same sofa . . . He's dressed for one of the Christmas parties we had at our house last year. He's proudly sporting a Christmas shirt from Auntie Sarah and an elf costume from Nonny (his maternal grandmother).
First, we signed the guest book and gave the people at the table our wedding gift (a red envelope with cash inside). They immediately record the names on the red envelope and the amount of the gift. In modern Taiwanese culture, the majority of the money given at the wedding goes towards paying for the banquet.
And the banquet room was really festive with balloons everywhere!
After the guests had found their tables and sat down, the bridal party and bride and groom entered the banquet hall. The flower children came in after the groomsman and maid of honor, the only thing that indicates that they are there is that someone had tied helium balloons to their wrists. (The man speaking the Chinese . . . that's my hubby, he was the MC of the banquet.)
Thanking all the guests for coming by toasting from the font stage.
Since I didn't get many photos of the food from our banquet, I made sure to get a photo of EVERY SINGLE dish taken at their wedding as well as some of the drinks.
There were around 25 tables.
Here's the view of our table.
After a few dishes . . .bride and groom enter again, this time with the bride in a new dress.
Games and tricks on brides and grooms is a HUGE part of most wedding banquets. This very private couple didn't want to be embarrassed. So, Lawrance and I came up with a game for the new couple to play. He asked them questions such as "who fell in love first" and "who will hold the remote control to the TV." Then they decided who and held up a photo of the one they thought was the answer.
Their "punishment" for not agreeing with each other was for MeiShiang to find (with her hands only, eyes closed) some black file clips that Lawrance had hid on GouJong--one for every question "wrong."
They also had the really sweet idea to "reward" their guests with a "lucky draw." They asked their guests to leave words of blessings on little cards and then drew out 30 of the blessings to read aloud during the banquet. Those whose blessings were read aloud were given homemade mango pudding as a reward.
They then went table to table toasting their guests ten at a time.
After the toasting, they disappeared for awhile and came back with the bride in dress number three and ready to give away the bride's bouquet.
They had a really unique way of giving away the bouquet. They called all their single friends--male and female--up to the front by name. Then handed each one a red string. One of the red strings was attached to the bouquet. The one with the lucky attached string got to keep the bouquet. The rest went home with consolatory chopsticks.
After the banquet, they stood at the door and "song ke." They passed out roses (the first time I'd seen that) and candy as they said goodbye and thanks for coming to their guests. And of course took time to take photos with their guests too. :)
