missing the pest....

I know I've mentioned it before on my blog, but I lived in Budapest, Hungary for 6 months in 2008. I lived on the Pest side (the "s" in Hungarian is pronounced "sh", unless it's followed by a "z", in that case it sounds like "s"). Budapest should actually be pronounced as "Budapesht"....and that is probably the only Hungarian lesson I can give you because it's a VERY difficult language to learn. I only know basic phrases, and most importantly, how to ask for a beer, using my thumbs-up signal to mean 1. 

Anyways, to get to the point, I miss Budapest! I had an amazing semester there and was able to travel all over central Europe, and I really just miss traveling! I've been having some serious Budapest withdrawals so I cannot wait to go back in May with my sister who is in Barcelona right now. I also seriously need to re-take a TON of pictures that I lost from my semester abroad when my computer crashed--that was a very sad day.

I was reading Made by Girl's post today which featured the beautiful home of Hungarian blogger Noémi. After clicking through to her blog I found a few cool Hungarian design sites, I only wish I could actually read them! I did, however, find some beautiful Hungarian interiors that I thought I would share....

Otthon.hu

And now for a treat {mostly for me}, my only remaining photos of my Budapest apartment via Facebook....

Please excuse the mess, these were taken when we fist moved in (January 2008). We rented this apartment through a vacation rental agency so all the furniture was already there...

Our living room, you can see one of my roommates on the couch!

I miss those high ceilings and tall doors...

View into one of the bedrooms

This was my room for the first couple of months, we switched around a lot...

Our tiny kitchen, it actually doesn't look that tiny in this picture but it was really narrow.

Our apartment building.

Our beautiful courtyard!

i'm alive!

Sooooo, after almost a three month hiatus from blogging, I'M BACK! 

For any of my readers who are still around, I swear a won't completely abandon this blog again!

Like most people, I just got really busy around the holidays, and since then I just got too used to not blogging. I was also feeling a bit uninspired with lots of things recently.....I'm still trying to figure out what I want to do exactly, but I think I finally have an idea....

In other news, I'm planning a month long trip to Europe! My younger sister is studying abroad in Barcelona right now, and since I am super jealous of her {even though I already studied abroad in Budapest, yes I want to go again!} I am going to visit her and travel with her for a month in May! I. Cannot. Wait. So far, were planning to go to Paris, Budapest--of course!, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Berlin, and possibly Milan to visit our Italian exchange student my family hosted last year. I've already been to all of these cities, except Paris, but since my computer crashed and I lost ALL of my pictures I want to go back and replace them....plus, those were my favorite cities!

Anyways, on to the pretty stuff.....I thought I would give you a design overdose to make up {or try to....} for my extra long blogging break....

all of the above...Jessica Helgerson Interior Design

skona hem

little birthday present for myself...

Yesterday I bought myself a little pre-birthday present! Notice what it is? Yes, that is the 3rd lamp to sit on this table in a matter of 2 months....

$30 at TJ Maxx......yes please! It's the perfect cream color for my living room. The lamp with the black shade will eventually go into my bedroom when it's painted....yes, I still haven't painted it. I still have that gray blotch on my wall that reminds me every day that "maybe I should paint my room sometime".
Another glamour shot...okay not really, I took these very quickly this morning before work.

Anyways, I hope everyone has a wonderful day! I will be "celebrating" my 23rd birthday at work by setting up for Dining by Design, after all, what says a little birthday fun other than a little manual labor?

new lamp and an anniversary...

I promised I would show you a picture of my new lamp...

I love it so much! I will eventually put it in my bedroom when I paint it, but for now it's out in the living room. Doesn't really match the room decor, but it's okay with its black shade for Halloween.

And yes, that is a black cat tealight holder. I love Halloween decorations.

I actually meant to share this with you a while ago, but never got around to taking a picture. I bought those nesting tables from Ikea for $50! The set of three was on sale for 3 days in September and I had to have them. They're a little too big for this nook (I think it looks a little busy) but for now this is their place. This area tends to be my catch-all for miscellaneous decor that I move from other places in the house so it's kind of a mish-mash, but whatever. Notice the obvious "dorm style" lamp....what can I say, I think I can still use being "a recent college grad" as an excuse (even though I haven't lived in a dorm for 2 years)! Actually, the new lamp in the previous pictures is my first "adult" buy because it's not a Target lamp, dorm left-over, or hand-me-down.

If you were wondering what this nook looked like before, here it is above in all its boring glory. Even though it's a bit more cluttered now, I think it really makes this space look and feel warmer, not to mention feel like an actual space.

On to other things...

Today was a beautiful day here in San Francisco...

Perfect day for a picnic in Golden Gate Park...

My boyfriend and I actually planned this over a week ago, so we were lucky that the weather was so nice, because we had a monsoon on Monday :)

The occasion for our picnic was our 5 year anniversary, which was actually last Friday the 16th. His parents were in town last weekend so we held off our little celebration. Obviously from the pictures you can see that we had tacos! I love Mexican food, makes me happy. I made the easiest taco meat for it too. Crockpot is my savior. Tri-tip steak with a jar of spicy salsa in the crockpot, cook on low for 10-12 hours, shred the meat when it's done and you have the perfect tender and juicy taco meat. I cooked it while I slept and woke up to the smell of cooked meat, yum? (but I knew it would taste so good later so I didn't mind!).

For a light and healthy dessert we ate some fresh pomegranate. Mmmm.

Last but not least, the person I celebrated 5 years with! Isn't he a cutie?

And just for fun, below is a picture of us at our senior prom in 2005....

I'm back! With a diploma too!

The fam. Ryan, me, dad, mom, Catherine, Julia

I am now, officially, a COLLEGE GRADUATE! With a degree in architecture and everything! I actually graduated May 22nd, but I took last week off and lived up my vacation by doing absolutely nothing....and it was great!

...and the job hunt begins! Well I actually started well over a month ago, and so far all of this private school tuition has gotten me nothing but a bunch of emails saying "sorry, but we are not currently hiring at the moment". Thanks college!

But really, I'm still pretty optimistic. I know there are jobs out there, I just have to find them. One thing I have learned, architecture firms are DEFINITELY NOT HIRING. Or, at least the ones I have applied to aren't.

Anyways...I posted some pictures from graduation. Enjoy.

My friend Whitney and me...we saw each other everyday until she moved back to San Jose. sad.

Apparently we like brightly colored shoes.

Ryanator and me. Boyfriend, not brother. Some people think we look alike.

My dad, Ryan and me

They must have been bored. Ryan, Julia, and our Italian exchange student Lodo

My dad likes to take as many pictures as possible and that is my sister Julia on the left giving my dad the "are you seriously taking a picture right now?" look.

Where I work...

I've been working at an interior design firm here in the city for a little over 2 years and I absolutely love it! Here are some pictures of the work that my amazing boss Patrice has done with her firm Patrice Cowan Bevans Interiors...