Opinions?

Our living room has been feeling squished, so we decided to move out our love seat and replace it with a chair. We have decided on an Ikea Poang chair, but I can't decide what color. Above are some options combined with the rest of our furniture: 1) dark blue 2) ivory and cover the head pillow with a fabric that coordinates w/ the rest of the room 3) a print.

I'm leaning toward one of them, but I want opinions before I make a final decision. So, what would you do? 1, 2, or 3?

Cleaning House

Over the past month, the house has been getting on my nerves. So, I decided that it was time for another deep spring cleaning. My house is not very big (and neither are my closets). So, I have to constantly go through the things that I own and clear out the junk.

I am always amazed at how much I can get rid of when I purge. Where does all of this stuff come from? I know that some of it is stuff that I've been holding on to for a long time... like that coat that I made 10 years ago, or those pajama pants that I made 13 years ago (that have holes in them), or those jeans that my mom bought me when I was a junior in high school (11 years ago).

And there are still wedding presents that are slowly moving out. We've been married for 5 years, and I still feel guilty about getting rid of a gift that we don't use and did not register for.

All in all, I have 7 trash bags full of stuff for Goodwill, and an even larger number in trash. It feels good to get rid of things and to simplify life. Except for the things that make me sad. Like throwing out my broken sewing machine. I made my wedding dress on that machine. It angered me on many occasions, but there is a sentimental attachment. Oh, well. When I have a bigger house, I can afford to be more sentimental.

Quick Change

No need to throw away a perfectly good pair of pants just because you don't like the cut. I loved the color of these, but wasn't crazy about the cropped, bootleg cut anymore. So now they're shorts.

Goodbye Old Friend

Out with the old, in with the new. I've got my new car, but that means that it's time to say goodbye to my old one. I've been driving my little Hyundai Elantra for nine years. It's taken me to co-op in Chattanooga, to school at Georgia Tech, to home in Columbus, and all over the city of Atlanta.

It wasn't fancy, but it took me everywhere I needed to go; to work, to the theater, to church, to dates, to friend's. My brother hit a deer with it. I was rear-ended in it. And I hit a concrete pillar in a parking deck (and then touched up the paint myself). But it kept chugging.

I'm going to miss my little car. I always tried to talk nicely to it, in hopes that it would last longer for me. And it had a good life span. I know that I got my money's worth out of it. I'm sad to see it go (well, it's still sitting in front of our house at the moment), but I'm glad to move on to my CRV.