Blog News | Our Cozy Cubbyhole

Seriously Awesome News (Times Three)

**Before I start, I wanted to let you know about a little change in the comments section. There were mixed love it/don’t love it reviews on the automatic emails letting you know that I have responded to your comments. So, now there is an option! If you’d like to know when I have responded (only me — not all comments on the post, I promise!), just select the “Replies to my comments” option in the comment box and confirm subscription. If not, “Don’t subscribe” is the default so you don’t have to do a thing. Now everyone will be happy! And remember, if you change your mind, you can switch your subscription preferences at any time. :)**

I know a lot of you have been waiting in suspense for me to reveal my big news so get excited because today is the day! In fact, there are three really amazing things I want to share with you today so let’s get right to it!

1. I am super, super lucky because I was chosen by the amazingly talented and kind women, Joann and Kelly, at Kandrac & Kole to receive a ticket to Design Camp in Seattle in two weeks!! Hosted by celebrity interior designers Lori Dennis and Kelli Ellis (you may know them from HGTV or TLC), Design Camp is a two day seminar packed with workshops in all things interior design, portfolio creation, forecasts/trends, design blogging, social media, branding, and becoming a television personality! I seriously jumped up and down for like 45 minutes (great cardio, by the way) when I found out that I would be attending this incredibly valuable and fun seminar. Many of you know that my dream job would be to be on HGTV, so add in some blogging and some advice for starting an interior design career, and the result is literally my perfect dream conference. AND I GET TO GO!! Eeeeeee! I fully intend on being in sponge-mode, soaking in any and all information that I possibly can. The best part is that the conference is limited to 300 people so there will be some incredible networking opportunities and time to really get to know the other campers! Time to get my business cards printed… ;)

2. I am super, super lucky because I received a message through my Etsy store just before Christmas from a woman inquiring about selling my string art to a wholesale distributor. She asked to send me an email with more information, and when she did, the first thing I saw was that she was a buyer for UncommonGoods! I LOVE THAT STORE! So once again, I jumped up and down for 45 minutes like a madwoman. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the store, here is info from their website:

“UncommonGoods is an online marketplace offering creatively designed, high-quality merchandise at affordable prices. At UncommonGoods, we believe that creativity and the expression of individuality represent two great human treasures. We have set out to create a business that makes uncommon goods accessible to everyone.”

After several months of phone calls, emails, samples, and soul-searching on my part, the listing went live today! I am offering three versions of my string art with nails exclusively through UncommonGoods (thus the reason they have disappeared off of my Etsy store), one on the natural wood round, another with bright red paint, and another with bright turquoise paint. When the customer places an order, I will fulfill it and ship it directly to them. For those who are thinking, “Erika, you have the smallest apartment of all time. Where do you plan on making these?” The answer is: my garage space and I are going to be spending a lot of time together. Sorry, Walker’s car.

Photo source: UncommonGoods.com

So what does this all mean for me? When I got the original email, my first thoughts were, “This is amazing but with school and everything going on, I don’t have time for this.” However, after doing some number-crunching based on their sales estimates, I realized I was roughly in the range of what I am bringing home working 3 days a week at my current job. If the actual number of orders per week was lower, I would need to find other income to supplement. If the number was higher, I would be making more money and working less… from home. Since there is no way to predict the orders until they come in, I decided to err on the side of caution and make all financial decisions based on a worst-case scenario every week. Which brings me to…

3. I am super, super lucky because when I started looking into other forms of income, I decided to ignore the voice in my head saying, “You have practically no experience. They won’t even look at your work,” and applied to a few paid blogging positions. I was so wonderfully surprised when I was offered both a copy-editing position at Lifehack.org and a daily DIY blogger position for Decoist.com!! Lifehack is “widely recognized as one of the premier productivity and lifestyle blogs on the web. This site is dedicated to lifehacks, which is a phrase that describes any advice, resource, tip, or trick that will help you get things done more efficiently and effectively.” Decoist is “an interior design and architecture blog that promises to deliver fresh new inspiration everyday.”

Once I was offered both writing jobs (which are paid by post and should be enough to cover any gaps in income for weeks with fewer orders), I decided that this whole UncommonGoods/Lifehack/Decoist path was one I needed to take. While the financial risk is much higher than staying at my current job, the benefits of working from home and having more time to work/focus on school were too huge to ignore. I felt like this amazing opportunity fell onto my lap and I would be silly not to try.

So that is what I am doing: trying! I put in my notice at my current job a little while back and my last day is this Friday. The listing went live on UncommonGoods today and I start with the writing positions on Monday (I have already been editing articles, as well as did one sample post for Decoist last week). It is so exciting! I want to jump around all over the place. I want to sing and shout. I want to dance. I want to cry a little because I am terrified of the financial risk. I want to pat myself on the back for taking this leap of faith. I want to hug everyone who has supported me and told me to go for it, especially Walker (who has listened to me go on and on and on and on about every bit of this).

To my lovely blog readers, thank you all for your support as well. Check out the listing, pass it along to friends, TWEET N PIN THAT SHIZ… whatever you do, I appreciate it all! Love you guys! xoxo
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Have you ever taken a big risk? Worked as an entrepreneur and/or from home? Any tips on making a rented half-garage not feel like a spider-filled cave?

Pretty Tags and a Super Quick Favor! :)

I hope you all are having a relaxing pre-Superbowl Sunday morning and are preparing your stomachs for a greasy feast this afternoon. I know I am! I have decided to start stepping up my Etsy shop packaging game in the next few weeks so I thought I would share a little sneak peek of some of the fun! The pink and red tags are so festive for this month of LOVE. I also have a pretty blue/green set that will be perfect for spring! :)
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On an unrelated note, it is that time of year again… the Apartment Therapy Homies!

Last year we came in 99th place with 25 votes, which isn’t too shabby considering this little blog was only a couple months old! The best part of the whole thing was that we gained a lot of new readers through the contest so that is our goal again! If you like what you read around here, would you be wonderful enough to take 10 seconds to vote for Our Cozy Cubbyhole? You only have to vote once but have to sign up or log in to Apartment Therapy to do so (don’t worry- it is totally free and they don’t send you any spam!). We would be so so so very grateful! You guys are seriously the BEST.

Enjoy your Superbowl eats (oh, and the game. I’ll be wearing my Giants shirt while weeping) and thanks again for all of your love and support!

Xoxo,
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First Blogiversary Day 5: Survey Results, Your Questions Answered, and a Little Something Special!

Welcome to our final day of Blogiversary celebrations! I asked you all to fill out a little survey last Monday so I could get a better idea of who you are and what you like/dislike about the blog. Shall we begin the recap?
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So the vast majority of you are 20-something females like myself but I was quite pleased to see that we have a bit of diversity in the age & gender of our readers! When I asked where you all were from, I got mostly responses from people scattered throughout the US (with a bunch of you from the East Coast as I expected). But we even have a few international readers, including two people from Ontario, Canada! #Canada2013?

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Most of you are married or attached and a few even have kids. Half of you have a pup, a third of you have a cat, and a fifth of you have another pet. Half of readers are also writers of their own blogs (feel free to leave your blog address in the comments below for people to check out if you’d like), which I think is awesome!

The most shocking piece of info out of this question was that a third of you admitted to currently having a wedgie! I’m impressed but alarmed… you guys should invest in some new underwear. ;)

When I asked what you all did for a living, I got a wide variety of answers: people in the TV/Film industry, lots of people in admin roles, a pharmacist, teachers, a toy store manager, college students, a cabinetry designer, real estate agents, a lawyer, a biologist, stay at home moms/bloggers, and one of you even happily answered “Nothing!” (i.e. retirement!) :)
Chart4 I was super surprised (and really pumped) to see that we have more renters than home owners in the bunch! Although, considering the age range of most of you, I guess I shouldn’t be. I suppose I just read a lot of blogs about home owners remodeling their houses so I assume everyone owns a home but me. Yay for renters! I guess I will have to start showcasing some more renter-friendly DIY projects!

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I wanted to use this survey as an opportunity to find out what you all liked/disliked about the blog. Since I was so super psyched about the new layout, I wanted to see if you felt the same. Overall, you did! A few of you thought it could use a little extra personality so once the holidays are over, perhaps I will try and spice it up a little! I also recently made a change to have the blog notify you by email when I respond to your comments because I personally forget to check back to other blogs to see if the author responded. I was worried it may annoy some of you that comment often, thus the survey question. It turns out that the vast majority of you like it or don’t mind it, with only a few of you in the “It’s a little annoying” category. For those of you in the “Hate It” group, I know who you are because you all signed your names and I will hunt you down. Just kidding but thanks a lot college friends and Dad… glad to know you all think I’m spam! ;)

Next, I asked what you’d like to see more of on the blog and many of you were so sweet to say you like it how it is. In the words of one awesome survey-taker, “It’s your blog, just do you. ;)” A lot of you asked for more DIY posts, home decor posts, Bo (happy to oblige!), personal posts/pics, video tutorials, and L.A. living. Those are all things I LOVE to post about so I am so happy to keep them coming!

When I asked what you wanted to see less of, I got a few good jokes (my favorite was from that witty man of mine haha: “that geeky kid with the beanpole body and the Adonis face”) but for the most part you all seemed to say keep up the good work! It makes me happy that you all are enjoying my content!

And finally, that brings us to the question everyone was waiting to see:

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I am so proud of all of you that would live in Mall Madness… I was obsessed with that game but didn’t own it. However, my cousins did so I demanded we play it every time I came to visit! That being said, I was even more obsessed with Jumanji and had my dad make me my own wooden Jumanji board like the movie when I was young. So my answer to this question: I chose adventure!

On to the Q & A portion of the survey. A lot of you opted to leave this one blank (which makes my job easier), but I did get a few questions.

“How did you and Walker meet and when did you start dating?”
Walker and I met at work! Although neither of us still works there now, we met when I started working in the same department as he did. In fact, he was my trainer… oops! ;)
I actually have a draft of a long post with all of the details, so I will get my act together and get it posted in the new year with the whole story!

“If you could be one type of dog what would you be?”
Haha great question. Most definitely a spoiled, loved rescue mutt like Bo. The story of how Bo & I got together is a cute one too… I will have to draft up a post about it for the new year also!

“Definitely some questions about the goldfish snack crackers… how many can you fit in your mouth at once?”
No idea… I haven’t tried. I inhale them too fast to know. But challenge accepted. I’ll keep you posted! ;)

“White, ivory, or neither?”
Yay a decor question! I would have to say I love white, especially as an accent to a fun, bright color palette. White is crisp, clean, and reflects a lot of light. However, too much white and not enough color can sometimes feel cold, stark, and not very home-y so there has to be balance. If you are going with a neutral palette though, I prefer a bit of ivory to warm things up!

Wasn’t that fun? I have some other questions that people tend to ask me a lot so I will touch on those another day.

Now for the little something special I promised you. Since my year ahead will be absolutely insane with school and work, I will need every tool imaginable to stay organized. Enter NeuYear 2013 DryErase calendar! This calendar is awesome. It can be hung vertically or horizontally and gives me a view of the entire year. Test tomorrow? Travel dates? They are all on here to keep my schedule in order. The best part is that I can erase, move, and change things as life throws me little curve-balls. Plus, the staff at this company are super nice and have a great sense of humor that is prevalent throughout their business.

I already have the first few weeks of January packed with fun stuff!

Because I love you all so much and want your 2013 to be as successfully organized as mine, I am giving away four of these bad boys! Winners can choose uncoated or DryErase as well as academic vs. regular calendar year. Just enter below! :)

Didn’t win but want to get one anyway (for you or as a Christmas gift)? Use the code “OurCozyCubbyhole” and get 30% off! Wooooo!

So there we go! Happy Blogiversary to us and thanks to all of you awesome readers for sticking with us! xoxo

Photo: NeuYear.net

a Rafflecopter giveaway

**For full disclosure, I was provided a free calendar from NeuYear to write a review but the thoughts and feelings are mine alone.**

First Blogiversary Day 5: Postponed Until Monday

In typical December fashion, today has been too busy for me to get a post together for our final day of our Blogiversary celebration. So we will extend the celebration to Monday and will see you then with our survey results, questions answered, and a little something special for all of you awesome readers!

Have a great weekend!

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First Blogiversary Day 4: The Year In Review

Before I dive right into the year in review post, I want to ~~remind~~ beg you all to take 30 seconds to take the survey I posted on Monday! The survey will close tonight because we will be sharing the results tomorrow! Thanks so much for helping a girl out!

Now, let’s get into the good stuff! This has been such an incredible year. Walker and I have gone beyond getting settled in our apartment and have really established an amazing life together in cohabitation. Our relationship has thrived and I am grateful every day for finding such a beautiful love in this big, scary world. I watched my awesome brother graduate from high school/start college and have enjoyed seeing my parents flourish as empty-nesters. I stood by my best friend’s side as she married the love of her life and celebrated with two other couples we love as they also tied the knot! I sadly mourned the loss of my Papa and my grandmother but felt closer to my extended family than ever before because of it. I enjoyed my little puppy-companion’s antics and watched Walker and Bo become best friends! And most of all, my family and friends are happy and healthy… what more could you ask for?

When I started up this little blog, I only had the intention of using it as a creative outlet and to keep in better touch with my friends & family on the East Coast. However, it is a year later and I could never have imagined the effect it would have on me. Obviously, the biggest thing I have taken away so far was the discovery that I am capable of and passionate about pursuing a career in interior design, which I talked about in detail yesterday. I blabbed on for long enough about that already, so I will move on. Perhaps the accomplishment I am most pleased with is that this is one of the only hobbies I have actually stuck with for an entire year! I tend to throw myself into a new activity and then drift away once the novelty has worn off. Not with the blog and I love that! I am giving myself a pat on the back! The blog has also allowed me to develop existing creative skills (painting, crafting, building, writing, etc.) as well as branch out into new creative skills, such as photography and web design.

Another really awesome thing I didn’t see coming at all was meeting a bunch of incredible blog friends from all over the world! There are even a few of them I have become so close with that we are attempting to find some time next year to actually meet in person! #Ohio2013! I feel like I have found my little voice out in the big world of the Internet and that makes me proud. I am by no means a big blog on the block but I am blown away by how many of you lovely readers are out there!

So enough sappy stuff and more about you, my super awesome readers! I thought it would be fun to showcase your favorite things from this year!

Your favorite project this year was the California Love String Art, with 1,015 of you reading that post! WOW!!

Coming in second was my $7 DIY Plant Stand & Outdoor Bar with 757 readers!

And in third place is the Mason Jar Hand Soap Dispenser with 484 readers!

With the exception of the day I entered the Apartment Therapy Homies, the post with most same-day hits (363!) was my recap of the “Breakfast in Bed” bridal shower I threw for my best friend Laura back in July! Woooo!

My personal favorite post (other than my big announcement yesterday) was the Centennial post, partially because it contained an excessive number of Bo pictures and partially because it gave me a chance to tell you a little more about myself!My personal favorite project was the $14 DIY Basket & Twine Pendant Light because it changed the entire vibe of our living room!

Most of you found me through Google, Facebook, Apartment Therapy, and Pinterest (my top referrers) but there are some people that landed on my page by searching for some pretty odd stuff on search engines. Here are a few of my favorites:

treasure hunting in Nebraska – YES PLEASE!
bad bathroom paint job – haha okay… this one makes sense. The world will never let us live this one down!
bathtub of guacamole – mmmmmmm where!?
dog potty area in backyard – for us it’s called the backyard…
catskill sexy – you mean like the mountains? This one creeps me out.
pomeranian birthday – yippee! Puppy party!
cartoon lion sitting down – hmmmm? Sorry, I do not have one of those.
little gross adorable – ouch… I hope they were taking about Bo.
where is erika? – right here you dingus! ;)

And of course, no yearly blog recap would be complete without the grand total of the yearly pageviews. Of course, the stats are only as of Sunday since they take a few days to process so I will have to come update this official number once stats through yesterday become available. The grand total (as of Sunday) is 31,765 pageviews! HOLY MOLY! THAT IS INSANE! It makes my head spin just thinking about how incredible that is. All of you readers are so unbeliveabley awesome… I am so grateful for all of you and wouldn’t still be posting if it weren’t for you. xoxo

Because you are all so wonderful, I will have a little something special for you in tomorrow’s post, as well as a recap of the survey results and answers to all of your questions! In addition, I will be touching a little bit on moving forward and my blog goals for next year. See you then!

First Blogiversary Day 3: Big News!!

Oh happy day!! Today is my official one year anniversary since the birth of this little blog! A year ago today I made my very first post and wasn’t sure what to expect out of this whole blogging thing. While I am going to get into this topic more tomorrow, I will share one of the main results with you today.

I have been waiting to make this announcement on the blog since July, when I first hinted I had something in the works. Shall we recap that post?

Well here it goes: I am so so so beyond excited to announce that I will be going back to school in January to study Interior Design at FIDM in Downtown LA!!! On July 2nd, I got accepted to their 1 year Professional Designation program designed for people who have already earned a bachelor’s degree (this means no gen-ed glasses… just the good stuff!).

So let me back things up and start from the beginning. Since I have already written this once before, I will let past-Erika tell the story in the form of a few snippets from my FIDM admissions essay:

“I have spent my entire life surrounded by fabric, paint, crafts, HGTV, and all things home décor. After learning to sew at age eleven, my do-it-yourself creativity spiraled into paper crafts, art, room painting, refurbishing furniture, set design, and mood boards. Therefore, a college major in Drama seemed like a natural fit and I spent my time focusing on set design, set painting, costume design, and costume construction.”

Sidebar: As many of you know, I was actually pursuing two bachelors degrees (overachiever much?), one in Drama and the other in Television/Radio Production at the communications school. Okay, sorry past-Erika… please continue.

“After graduation, I was offered a job in the television industry and couldn’t pass up employment. However, I began to miss having a paintbrush and a hammer in my hands and decided to find a new creative outlet by beginning a home blog chronicling my own D.I.Y. and home décor pursuits. Not only does the blog allow me to stay current with design ideas and trends, but it has also allowed me to develop my photography, photo editing, writing, web design, and D.I.Y. skills.”

Fun fact: I actually started a dog blog first but that is beside the point.

I was laying awake one Sunday night in June, stressing over just about everything in my life and I decided to ask myself a really honest question. If money was no issue, what would I do with my life? After a long winded answer that revolved around blogging, designing, DIY projects, etc. I had one of those (excusez-moi pour mon Francais) holy-shit-moments that hit me like a Mack truck. I sat right up in bed and thought “Wait a minute! Money isn’t the issue here… I actually COULD do a lot of those things for a living… AS AN INTERIOR DESIGNER!” Duh. How had I never thought of this before as a potential career path for myself? I have been spending countless free hours happily following creative pursuits since I was a little girl that could all play a part in a design career. How has this never clicked before?

Once I put all the pieces together, I realized that I undoubtedly have a passion for all of these design-related activities. However, I lack an education in the field that would guide me to understand how to truly translate that passion into a career. I spent the entire night wide awake and researching design schools. When I saw FIDM’s 1 Year Professional Designation Interior Design Program I was so pumped because it was a perfect fit! I called an admissions adviser the next day.

When I called my mom to talk to her about it, her response was “How have we never thought of this before!?” Like mother, like daughter. :)

The admissions process began with a meeting with my admissions adviser to go over the basics (curriculum, cost, campus tour, etc.) and to get my admissions requirements. I had to fill out the usual paperwork, write an admissions essay, and complete a portfolio entrance project (see a copy of the directions here). This is what I came up with (click to enlarge photos):

Perhaps I will write a more detailed post on this project and my choices in the future (this one is long enough!). Regardless, they liked my essay/project and accepted me to the program! July seems like ages ago now… I have been looking forward to this for so long. However, I wanted to wait until the new year to start school so I had time to save some serious cash.

So what does this all mean for my life? First of all, it means that (as of January) I will be first and foremost a full-time student. School will be my main focus over the next year, despite the fact that it may seriously cut into my social and blog time. Secondly, this obviously means I will have to switch to part time at my current job. I will be in class on Tuesdays/Thursdays all day and then work the other 3 days. How do I know this? Well, because I registered for classes yesterday!!! Hooray!

I am more than excited for this adventure to start but a part of me is also really nervous! It is a huge career/life change for me and I will be basically starting completely over. Plus, only having a part-time income in this expensive city is terrifying but I have crunched the numbers a million times and I should be okay. For those of you who know me well, you know I can be meticulous about my budget when I want (or need) to be! All scary things aside, my gut is telling me that I am headed down the right path and I couldn’t be more elated to be following my passion.

While I have a million more things I could say about all of this, I think this blog post is long enough for now. I will leave you with a one additional snippet from my essay that sums this whole thing up and a couple pictures from my registration yesterday. I know this post could spur some questions from you all, so please feel free to comment below, email me, or submit questions on Mondays survey/question form (which I would appreciate you filling out if you haven’t already!). I am so grateful all of your support and love in this exciting time. Xoxo!

“I have always loved being ‘home’ and for a long time I attributed it to nothing more than comfort and familiarity. However, as I have gotten older, I have come to realize that what makes a place ‘home’ is not only comfort and familiarity, but also the personality of the space, the way a space makes one feel, and the memories it contains. The reason ‘home’ feels so wonderful is because it is deeply personal and is the physical manifestation of one’s experiences, dreams, feelings, and outlook on life. The desire to create this amazingly personal oasis at home for myself and for others is the exact reason I have decided to go back to school at age twenty-five to pursue a new career in interior design. I am sincerely excited to study the principles that will allow me to transform other people’s desires and needs into something functional, aesthetically pleasing, profoundly personal, and delightfully unique.”

First Blogiversary Day 2: A Day in the Life

Welcome to Day 2 of Our Cozy Cubbyhole’s first blogiversary celebration. If you read yesterday’s post, you already know that tomorrow will be the one year anniversary of my very first post so we are partying it up!

I realized recently that very few people actually know what I do for a day job. So, in true blogger tradition, I decided to do a “Day in the Life” post so you can see what my typical day is like. Without further ado, here is a Monday in the life of Erika. (P.S. Sorry for the quality of some of the pics… I got lazy and used my iPhone for some!)

7:30am – Alarm goes off and signals the official beginning of the week. Booo Mondays. Walker gets up but I lounge in bed with Bo, snoozing at least 2-3 times until Walker gets out of the shower. This is Bo’s favorite time of day… he milks it and gets more than his fair share of belly rubs.

7:57am – Finally roll out of bed!

8:00am – Oh wait, THIS is Bo’s favorite time of day. Breakfast time! And time for his Thyroid pill, which he knows always comes with a little cheese treat!8:05am – Chat with Walker while he gets ready for work. Every ~~Monday~~ day I suggest we call out sick and stay home to watch movies (we never have… maybe someday he will say yes). We drink coffee that he so lovingly made us while I was snoozing. He’s a keeper.

8:15am – Walker leaves for work so I settle in with my coffee and my blog planner to edit some photos for the day’s blog post. The post is already written so I insert the edited photos, proof-read it, and hit publish. After posting it to both Twitter and Facebook, I do a little internet Christmas shopping. I also manage to slurp down some breakfast: a Naked Juice Berry Veggie Smoothie. A growing girl needs her fruit, veggies, protein, and vitamins!

9:20am – Christmas presents purchased, I catch up on some social media and blog comments.

9:30am – Time to get ready for work! While the shower heats up, I pick out my clothes for the day: jeans and a khaki blouse. Obviously I need a scarf so I pull out two of them that go with the shirt. Then a dilemma hits… which to choose?! I decide to shower and think about it.9:45am – I get out of the shower, pull my hair into a ponytail (I was going to actually do my hair so I looked nice in these photos but then I was too lazy and decided you should see the real me. I wear my hair like this all the time. Get over it.), put on some makeup, and get dressed. Realizing one of the scarves made an appearance on the blog a few weeks ago (#bloggerproblems), I decide to go with the green scarf. Plus it has trees on it so it makes me feel festive. Finishing it off with some jewelry and boots, I snap a quick picture (sorry- self portraits are hard with DSLRs) before running out the door.

A little after 10am – I leave for work and arrive 5 minutes later (everyone in LA hates me for my miniscule commute!)… a little late as usual. Don’t worry clock-watchers, I always stay late to make up for being late in the morning. This is my building! Oooohh! Aaaaahh! Don’t be too impressed… we only own a section of the first floor.

While most of my building is light, bright, and full of typical offices, I work in this room with all boys:It has no windows and never has any lights on (though I turned them on so you could behold the beauty). As soon as I walk in, I notice the giant pile of work and dive right in. This is going to be a long morning…In a typical day, I do everything from editing small projects to babysitting clients. Usually I am running tape to file jobs where we create digital video files for online streaming services or digital archiving. Either that or I am editing a file and sending it out to tape for a broadcaster to air. I spend my day playing with tape decks, Final Cut Pro, and other transcoding software. NERD ALERT.

I like to think I look like this at work all the time:But I usually look like this… seriously concentrating, in my own little world, and sitting way too close to a several computer monitors:Actually, I sadly think I look like this a lot too:I have a few needy clients that like to call and bug me all day. Just kidding… sort of.

The day is flying by and there is no time for lunch. Usually I go home and hang with Bo but I had an inkling that today was going to be crazy, so I was smart enough to bring lunch to work. So I go to the kitchen and sneak bites of it when I get the chance. If I forget lunch, I end up eating way too many of the fresh, warm cookies the company puts out for the clients. I can’t even go take a picture of them because it would be too tempting. So instead you get a picture of the frozen ones that we have stored by the ton in the kitchen.

3:00pm – Things finally calm down a bit so I sit down with my wonderful, beautiful coworker Jasmine to go over the status of a few jobs.

3:30pm – One of my coworkers was kind enough to offer to help me upgrade the hard drive in my iMac (which I dragged into work). It is horrifying seeing my precious little iMac baby wide open on the table.I am unbelievably relieved to see these two screens when he is done…

Success! I now have 2TB of space and an extra GB of RAM! Wooooo! NERD ALERT AGAIN. I spend the rest of the day finishing jobs and wrapping up loose ends.

A little after 6pm – Since I didn’t take a lunch, I get to leave an hour earlier than usual. Woooo! I get home a few minutes later to find these two handsome faces waiting for me:The craziness of my day melts away when I see those mugs. I love my boys. Bo is happy to see me because now it is his dinner time.

6:45pm – Call my parents and catch up before they go to bed (the 3 hour time difference is brutal!).

7:30pm – Missed Jeopardy while I was on the phone but manage to snuggle up on the couch with the boys just in time for Wheel and How I Met Your Mother. Walker pours me a glass of vino!

8:3opm – Dinner time (we eat late on Mondays because of HIMYM)! Monday is leftover day from all of our delicious Sunday cooking. Today it is Shrimp Parmigiana (we used this recipe and it was unbelievably delicious) with homemade marinara sauce. We make some cheesy garlic toast to go with it and even steal a few scoops of macaroni salad (I know that is a strange addition but we didn’t want it to go to waste!).8:45pm – After dinner, Walker and I are super happy. Full bellies, a glass of wine in hand, dog on our laps, and a Christmas tree lighting up the room… life is good. We watch a few cooking shows, which makes us want dessert.

9:30pm – We cave and make ourselves some toast with butter and strawberry jam for dessert. We have no willpower.

10:00pm – Call my brother to catch up for a bit while Walker watches Seinfeld reruns.

11:00pm – Get ready for bed and chat with Walker for a bit.

11:30pm – Bo has been sleeping in the bed since 9:30pm and barely notices us join him. We all cuddle in for the night, happy that we survived Monday.

So there you have it, a day in the life of Erika. I will be back tomorrow with a huge announcement so get excited! In the meantime, please go fill out my super short, awesome survey from yesterday if you haven’t already. It would mean a lot to me! Thanks all! :)

First Blogiversary Day 1: New Layout and Survey!

Happy Monday, everyone! I am so happy to announce that this is a very special week here on the blog… Wednesday will be my one year anniversary of my very first post! So naturally I figured a week-long celebration was in order. Shall we start with a schedule of events? :)

Let’s kick off day 1! First things first, you probably noticed the site looks totally different today! Celebration #1: Blog makeover! I have wanted to do this for a while so I figured blogiversary week was the perfect time to launch the new look. AND I LOVE IT! For those of you who are curious, the original theme I used was Socialike by elemis and made all modifications myself. I am still tweaking a few things so bear with me if things look a bit wonky for a few days! :)

Celebration #2: A super quick survey and an opportunity to ask me any questions you have! The survey is very short/easy (I promise you will be done in less than 2 minutes), totally anonymous, and gives me an opportunity to know you (my readers) a little bit better. I would really appreciate you taking a few seconds to fill it out so I know how people feel about the goings-on here at Our Cozy Cubbyhole.

Finally, I am giving you the amazing privilege (haha sarcasm…) to ask me anything! Want to know when I find time to blog/do projects? Want to know Bo’s most embarrassing moments? Want to know why I put our lives out there on the internet? Now’s your chance to ask!

I will recap all results and answers to your questions on Friday! The survey/question form will stay open until Thursday night.

Okay… it’s survey time! Thank you for helping me out!

Two Little Monday Details

First things first, I am so so so happy to announce the winner of the signed Nate Berkus book giveaway:

Kristen @ Popcorn on the Stove

Congratulations Kristen! She will be receiving an autographed copy of “The Things That Matter” via super fun snail mail this week. However, just because the rest of you didn’t win doesn’t mean you should forget about this book. Go pick up a copy or visit the library because it is worth the read.

The next order of business is to remind you that I am joining a fun link-up party over at Decor and the Dog called Dare To DIY!In order to share my DIY holiday adventures, I will be attempting to join in each week with a new project. My “Be Thankful” project was Friday’s DIY “I Am Thankful For You” cards. So head on over to the link partyand check out some awesome DIY Thanksgiving ideas.

I Need More Hours in a Day…

…to use outside of work of course! ;)

So I had big plans to have a rockin’ blog project this week and life decided to get in the way. I was out sick yesterday and now I am playing catch-up so it likely won’t be happening today. Fingers crossed for tomorrow!

In the meantime, don’t forget to enter our first blog giveaway: a SIGNED copy of Nate Berkus’ new book “The Things That Matter.” You only have 3 days left!! Get on it… the book is beautiful! :)