We begin the second half of our tour with the master bedroom. The French doors are especially cool, I think. The beads hanging from the door are Nikki's "Ravens rally beads." She wears them in public along with a Ravens jersey and...well...you'll see in the next pictures...
Nikki here. This is my prized possession as far as furniture is concerned. It's an antique dresser in the most gorgeous shade of mint green you've ever seen. The top part folds down to reveal four drawers and a shelf where I keep things like my memento boxes and underthings. It's made of this great hardwood and is just scuffed enough to feel worn in. I got it for free from a crazy woman when I lived in my first apartment. She had a bunch of furniture to get rid of, and as long as I could get it out of her apartment and over to mine, I could have it. I especially love it because my mom wants to own it BADLY, but I refuse to give it up. Along with our TempurPedic mattress, this was the only other piece of furniture I insisted we bring across the country with us.
Ok, see the weird panda thing behind that picture of Nikki and her mom? That's what Nikki calls her "pandahatmittenscarf." Her friend Genny bought it for her because Nikki has a pandahat that she wears to football games (and around the house for no other reason than to embarrass me, I think). I've included two photos below of Nikki in her get up so you can see what I have to live with during football season. (The pig, by the way, is a humidifier. In this dry climate, without one of these, you wake up all cotton-mouthy. ...Hee hee. I always wake up with cotton mouth!)
Picture One:
Picture Two:
This is Nikki with her friend Tia IN PUBLIC at a Ravens game last year!! She tells me that everyone in the stands loved the hat, but I don't believe her.
Back to the apartment. This is the master bathroom. Tons of storage space, and Tasha does her business under the counter top.
Across from the counter is a bathtub, which makes Steve very pleased. He's the type of guy that likes to soak his weary bones from time to time, and having the option to either take a shower (behind that door in the back) or a bath makes him happy. Nikki always says that she doesn't like baths because, like the Gypsies/Roma, she believes that sitting in a tub of water of your own filth is gross. I just think of it as a small pool. I've tried to get Tasha to take bubble baths with me, but she doesn't like water. :(
Nikki's jewelry corner. She wants me to let you know that 95% of her jewelry is made by her "awesomely talented friends."
The master bedroom walk-in closet. Smaller than some closets, bigger than most. A great place to play hide-and-seek. Tasha runs here (or under the bed) in the rare instance there's a thunderstorm.
Back in the living room. Nikki's had this bookshelf since college, and it shows, in the back of it is only held on with two nails. :P Selected reading: The Collected Poems of Pablo Neruda, The Origin of the Species, The Poisonwood Bible, and The Art of War. Can you guess which are Steve's books and which are Nikki's? Steve's friend Jess Knowles drew that picture of him back in college. He says that it was her first ever commission. Who knew he was such an art lover (and an egoist)?
I showed you the kitchen in the first apartment blog post, and now Nikki's gotten a chance to decorate it a little! She took the photo of the cone flower on her first trip to Colorado, and she won the bamboo, fish-shaped cutting boards at a green wedding raffle.
Speaking of new decorations, the bar got a bit of a facelift since the last time. The pineapple keyholder is for Steve's keys; the basket is for Nikki's keys. The bird is actually a foam puzzle that Nikki got from a (now-closed) store in Rehobeth, DE when she was in middle school. I took it apart and tried to put it back together again, and let me tell you, that tail is a lot harder to figure out than it looks!
And now, the artwork that is currently gracing our walls. I'll let Nikki give you the specs.
This was a page from a fairy calendar I used to have. It's based on the play A Midsummer Night's Dream, which is my favorite play. (I've acted in it at least four times.) I had a coupon for a steep discount on custom framing at Michael's craft store, so I decided to have it professionally framed.
My Baltimore photo collage. All photos are Nikki originals. From top left: Stieff Silver factory, Broadway Market in Fells Point, Bertha's Mussels in Fells Point, Domino Sugar factory, The Cat's Eye Pub in Fells Point, rowhomes in Waverly, and Locust Point, as seen from across the Inner Harbor. I had originally tried to sell the piece, but not having any takers, I decided to keep it to remind me of home.
This print is one of a set of two. My brother James, a chef, has the other one. When I lived in Cockeysville, MD after college, I saw a middle-aged couple put these two paintings gently on top of the community dumpster. Then then loitered a bit in the parking lot, as if waiting to see if anyone would take them. Being Italian and poor, I thought that the pictures would make an excellent addition to my apartment's decor. So I reached in and grabbed them, dusted them off, and took them home with me. To this day, I don't know if they were alarmed or pleased that someone dumpster dove for their discarded artwork.
I'm going to end this entry with a picture of Steve playing Rock Band, because it makes me laugh.
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