New house!

Boy oh boy... moving was harder than I anticipated!

For now lets get on to showing you around our new home!

Front

I had the front door painted red because it just MUST have a red door!

Living Room

 I do wish it was a little larger so that the sofa didn't have to rest against the built in but the computer really serves as a hub and we use the laptop or iPad for most of our internet usage anyway.

Dining Room

 Whoops, forgot to move a few things out of the way! The chandelier isn't my taste but that is something I can work on. Logan looked at it and said "Happy Birthday!"... yeah the candles are a bit much kid.

Kitchen! 

I am enjoying the large pantry for sure.

View from Kitchen over the breakfast table to the Den/Playroom

Playroom

I am still working on storage in here but I wanted this space to be comfy and fun. That's why I loved the yellow cabinet and orange side table (in photo above).

From Den to Kitchen

I am loving this open floor plan because earlier today I was cooking dinner and Logan was playing in his Den and it was nice to hear him and see him!

Loooong hallway!

Logan's Room

 This room has tons of shelving, actually a little too much! It's also the only room I didn't paint....

Master Bedroom

View from our Bed

Guest Bedroom. complete with fish....

Back of our house.

We are iffy on the "as seen on TV Sunbrella canopy!" But it does keep the sun out of the back of the house which helps with the heat.

This is the view from the Den. Hello Pool!

Putting in that safety gate was the best thing we did. Now I don't have to hover over Logan all the time when he is outside.

That's about it! We finally have 2 bathrooms, which I forgot to photograph. The shower is really open in the master - lee even gets water everywhere! We may put up a curtain. I don't really like being so .... exposed.... while showering!

Logan did wonderfully with the change. He only cried a little the first night and after that he doesn't seem phased. I think having the same bed and everything helped really show him it's his room and it's safe.

Have a great week!

What I'm Loving

I don't see a lot of What I'm Loving Wednesday out there anymore, but I wanted to go on and share a few things that I have been hooked on lately!

Please don't judge me. I love this show. I could be the 80's theme, or the fact that it's Carrie Bradshaw all over again, but I can't stop watching.

The smell is GONE. I didn't find any splotchy and streaky areas at all. I am so pale I am translucent and I need all the help I can get as the dresses and shorts are brought out for the Spring.

I don't often try new products since my face tends to be sensitive. This arrived in my Birchbox a few weeks ago and I turned around and ordered a full size immediately. It's creamy but not greasy and has no scent at all. Try it, you'll love it!

What about you? What are you loving?

8 years ago....

Here we are... 8 years married.

11 Years together...

3 dogs (one in heaven)
1 cat
and 1 Sprited Child whom we adore.

Life has always been on fast forward for us and now with busy work schedules and buying a house it's more so than ever..

But our love?

It's always been perfect and all encompassing.

Thank you for being you, Lee.

Thank you for our life.

Here is our story:

Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four
Part Five

Have a great day!

House Design

Since I get a pretty clean slate at the new house, I am mixing some existing furniture with new to create a bit of an eclectic look.

I took my hand at some photoshop storyboards - but I'm pretty bad at it.

Living Room:

The sofa I found at Gallery Furniture on Westheimer and it's the exact clean look I was going for. Lee has a brown leather chair and ottoman so I wanted to lighten things up and thrown in an upholstered chair (Ballarddesigns.com) with our existing dark wood console (similar to the one shown). Add a charcoal rug to anchor the space and it's fresh and clean.

Den:

Kid-friendly slipcovered sofa from World Market with a cute chair (Target!!) and a white console from Nadeau in Rice Village. This room is almost all windows and will be Logan's toy area.

Master Bedroom:

We are putting our bed and nightstands (you can see them on the Our Home section of the blog) in the guest room, but keeping our dresser - which is dark wood. I am ordering an upholstered headboard and pairing it with charcoal bedding, emerald accents, and a bench at the end of the bed rather than footboard. Our bed will face 3 full height windows looking out onto the pool so I wanted to bring some of that beach feel into our new oasis. (We have our OWN BATHROOM people!)

Guest Bed:

Best friends navy and orange will brighten up the dark bed and nightstands along with a white console to give guests a little storage and place to store luggage.

That's it for now. I can't wait to move in 3 weeks and take photos to see how close my vision came to reality. I have a list as long as my arm of things to do (appliances, pool fence, utilities, etc) and I can see why we aren't the type of people to move very often!

Major Impressions

I've always been an avid book nerd. I think this started with my Dad and his love of books, especially Stephen King. Of all the Stephen King books I have read, this one I still remember:

I heard he wrote this as a fairy tale for his daughter. I have read it at least 3 times.

Over the last few weeks I have felt this need to read a book I remember way back from grade school. All I could remember was it was about Nazi Germany and a girl with a best friend with a Star of David necklace. I googled and found it and read it in only a few nights.

Of all the books I was assigned to read in school, there is one that I fondly think back upon and I am about to read it again:

I can't tell you enough how much this book enveloped me, much like the classic Bridge to Terabithia did to others. Read it. With tissues.

Otherwise I am always looking for a good book to read. I am stumped on any of the new ones out there that I need to be looking into. Ideas?

Catching Up

Forgive my long break. Things around here got so overwhelmingly hectic that I didn't want to sit and write about the same ole gripe and complaint. Here are some updates!

House: we got the house we wanted! We close on the 18th of this month and we move on the 3rd and 4th. I'm beyond excited and already digging deep into design ideas for every room. I will have a true guest room with a king size bed and I really want to make it comfortable. I'm going to try my hand at some photoshop and polyvore-style my ideas soon!

The new casa! Front door will soon be red, because I can't have it any other way.

Logan: Logan is a parrot! This is bad when we are in the car and I have road rage, but it's also quite fun and entertaining. He's currently on antibiotics for strep, which was not fun at all for a couple of nights. His fever got as high as 104 but he never missed a beat. He was happy and running around the whole time! This exhausted momma? Not so much.

Hi, I look like I'm 4.

Lee: Lee just finished up a huge year at work and it looks like we will be off to Hawaii again in July. I'm pretty glad it's not May since we will already have moved that month - I'd like to spend a weekend or two just lounging in the yard by the pool!

Me: I'm - ok. Work has me on a roller-coaster. One day I am ready to walk out, and the next I am happy. Part of me keeps wondering if I need a change. Teaching has always appealed to me. I've been at this firm 5.5 years and it could be a bump in the road so I am trying not to make any knee-jerk decisions.

Easter was fun. I have zero photos of Logan in his outfit, but he died eggs for the first time with his Gramma!

All in all, things are good.


...And the recycle bin is full of beer and wine bottles.

Oh a House Hunting we will go...

Congrats! Our house sold in 3 hours!

Seriously. Woah.

Now we have this frantic mission to find OUR dream home and it's really tough. I mean, with houses selling in 3 hours, you can imagine how hard it is to find something right?

It's also hard when you limit yourself to one neighborhood that's only this big:

Every house in that little square is already under contract except for 2. They both need fixing up and Lee and I had decided we weren't into that this time. With a toddler and full time jobs, construction isn't the best idea.

However... knowing me and what I do all day for a living... I am slightly intrigued.

I get heavy discounts so renovating wouldn't be quite so expensive if you choose the right materials and find good labor.

Today we are going to look at 4 houses. 2 in this little square and 2 in another area we like - just not as much.

I did wish this would all move quickly.

I should have been more specific on the rate of speed....