The Gift That Keeps On Giving

After we bought our house, I knew that we had a good thing.  Like a really, really, really good thing, but this past year has been a little bit of a roller coaster.  Jim keeps a running tab on everything that's been "screwed up" by the previous owners; we all do this though.  When you live in a house, you do things your way; "sorry for ya, next owners!"  It's cool though, we've had so many other wonderful discoveries along the way that it kinda makes up for the other not so good things, like the toilet paper holder, the busted pipe, etc.

We are coming to love the yard, it's a huge difference from our last house that was perched high up on a cliff.  Just last night, we were all getting our mad Frisbee skills on; look out neighborhood tournament, that prize has our name written on it... Just kidding, there is no tourney and if we entered, we'd place last; but it's not all about winning now is it?  There is one thing that we are winning at right now, the flowers.  I realize that they were planted by the last owner and that there is no up keep, but they're in our yard, so we can take some ownership.

This weekend, as we searched high and low for bugs (it's insect week at school), we rounded the corner and right there were these two beautiful flowers.  Perfect for what they were, I whipped out my iPhone and snapped away.  I'm thinking that these little things make up for the fact that we've got to paint all of the trim downstairs (who paints trim taupe?) and that the siding is warped because they grilled too close to the house; but, it still doesn't make up for the toilet paper holder that one sucks.

Check out our perfect flowers, they're pretty awesome, right?

These Things: Fall Edition

I'm so excited for this upcoming Fall in our new home, here some totally awesome things that I want to have while enjoying my favorite season:

This amazing fire pit, with hammered copper; it's pretty much the best fire pit around town.
$3099-$3499

FRONTGATE

The Harvest Pumpkin wreath from Pottery Barn, if that doesn't scream Fall, I don't know what does.

$99

Pottery Barn

This awesome Stone Top Kitchen Island from Williams Sonoma.  It's rustic, but charming... kinda like me.
$1295-$2495

WILLIAMS-SONOMA

I love nothing more than to curl up under a nice, soft, warm blanket and while I don't know if this one is any of those qualities, it looks awesome so that's all that really matters.

$39.99

ZGALLERIE

These bookcases remind me of a library stacked with little treasures that you have time to read on a brisk fall day.  I want all three of them right now... I just need to fill them with books, or make them look nice with lots of trinkets and stuff.

$149

Ikea

Fall reminds me of the smell of a nice hearty fire in our living room and for some reason so does this charger, it just looks like it would smell like a roaring fire, doesn't it?

$91.80 for a set of 4

ZGALLERIE

And I'll take one of these, just because it warms up a room.

$325

URBANOUTFITTERS

There's nothing I like more right now than a nautical stripe... Shh!  Don't tell a chevron; they're still my jam!

$39

west elm

Who doesn't love a good claw foot tub?  This one is a modern take on a classic.

$1,144.99

overstock.com

This space chair would be the perfect one to curl up in while next to a fire.  I mean, it's orange... what more could you want from a chair?
$279

IKEA

A wire basket for my freshly picked apples and by freshly picked, I mean picked that day from the grocery store bin.
$49.95

WILLIAMS-SONOMA

Not that this has anything to do with the Fall, but recently, we've been watching an almost absurd amount of Gator Boys and therefore, my kids would love this planter.

$75

uncommongoods

I'm loving these coasters and since they can be used year round, why not buy em' in the Fall.  Pssshhhh, my moto is: if I want somethin' you damn well better believe that I'm gonna get it.

$64... is that too expensive for a set of 4?

uncommongoods

A punch bowl?  I love punch!

$59.99

redENVELOPE

Omg.  A fall picnic with things like cheese of all varieties and spiced wine would be divine; simply wonderful.  And since it's a bag, the man totally has to carry it, which means that I can just look pretty.

$79.95

redENVELOPE

We've Got A Nice Little Spot

There are some days when I have these big plans and we end up trekking 45 minutes to Ikea and then running home grabbing lunch and putting the boys down for naps, then we go to Michaels and Target and a how can we forget about that quick jaunt into Home Goods... our weekends have become a blurry mess of errands and spur of the moment trips that involve packing everyone into the car and driving somewhere.  Recently though, I've just wanted to stop, collect ourselves and step back from our busy lives, particularly on the weekends and relax.  We're finally in the home of our present and our future, talking almost daily about the fires we're excited to build in the fire place, our boys are growing up so quickly and learning new things daily; just the other night Cullen turned to me and said, "What does that man have on his armpits?"  (for the record, it was hair and he thought that was hilarious) and I realize that I've got to do better at saying no to an almost second nature habit of cramming in things that I want to do on the weekend, but don't need to do.

I need to do family time.  I need to do walks to recharge my energy and our family energy.  We have a pond in our neighborhood that we walked to for the first time last weekend, and I've come to realize that I need to do this pond more often.  Those are my needs that I've somehow over looked that I'm trying to get back into focus.  After I got home and looked at the pictures of the boys enjoying the trip to the pond, I realize that they need this too, they need this nice little spot to stretch their legs and enjoy the fish that create ripples as they swim over to the pond's edge.

We all got this chance to have a nice little spot, not just at the pond, but also in our lives right now and I'm going to make it a priority to enjoy it more.

Everyday We're Walkin'

One of the best, and I mean very best things about moving into our new house is that the neighborhood is warm and friendly; absolutely perfect for walking.  Our new motto and routine has become thinking of ways to make sure that the boys are completely tired, as I believe that it helps Arden to fall asleep, which has been an issue, since the transition to the big boy bed has been difficult... to say the least.  Every night after dinner, we high-tail it out of the house and go walkin' and searching for things to keep the boys occupied.

Who can see a dog first?  

Who hears the first bird?  

Are we going to see the chickens?  

So far cooperation with both walking and the on-the-spot competitions have been fair-to-partly-cloudy, but that's okay, because usually by the end of the walk, Jim and I are tired and the boys are happy to talk about all of the things that they saw- never mind the fact that there were half a dozen meltdowns, 'cause we can see our new house and none of that matters.

As I tend to do, I can't help myself when I get an opportunity to snap a few pictures, so our walks have been documented, but later in life, I'm sure I will be happy that I took these pictures; for now, I just look like a suburban paparazzi, minus the entourage.

The Boys' Room

Before and after we moved in, I made "finishing" the boys' room the first priority.  I say "finishing" because it's not finished.  But, I did say that I'd have pictures of their room up this week and this is a judgment free zone up in here, so I will post what I got, because what I've got is still pretty damn good for being in the house less than a week.

One of the things that I lovex10 is when people include the sources for pieces in their houses/rooms, etc.  So I will try and do that as much as possible and include links wherever possible too.

The look: Eclectic and easy.  I wanted to mix functional with cheap, with some Pottery Barn mixed in.  Originally, we had planned on painting the wall behind the headboards light green, but when we moved in and saw the light blue walls, Jim and I both agreed that we liked the color and that it'd work just as well.  (Jim was the most happy about this, since it meant no painting.)

Biggest success: Hanging the home-made names above the headboards.  I wanted a way to personalize each bed, but didn't know how I was going to do it.  Originally, the names were going to be hung on the walls on either side of the room, but at the last minute, I put them on top of the beds and loved them.

Biggest fail:  Not having everything functional when taking the pictures- hello green lamp.

Biggest bargain:  The night stand, the night stand, the night stand.  I'm obsessed with that thing.  We went poppin' tags at Goodwill and found this beautiful thing for $10... TEN BUCKS!

1.  Pottery Barn ABC Paper Mobile, on sale for $17.99.  Here is the link; however, it's no longer available.  Frowny face.
2.  Dog print, Marshalls Home Goods, about $15
3.  Arden sign was handmade by my Mother-in-law when he was born.
4.  FJELLSE Bed Frame from Ikea, $39.99
5.  Star Quilted Bedding, Pottery Barn, $129-159, here's the thing though, I would never pay that for bedding for a kid's room.  We went to the outlet closest to us and found it there for around $70.
6.  Dog print, Marshalls Home Goods, about $15
7.  Cullen sign was handmade by my Mother-in-law when he was born.
8.  Dump Truck Pillow, Target,  $16.14
9.  Two white curtain panels, Target, about $10 each
10.  Table lamp, Target, $15
11.  Dump Truck Night Light, Target, $14.24
12.  Night stand, Goodwill, $10
13.  Mustache wood hanging, Marshalls Home Goods, about $15
14.  I made the boys each a button letter on canvas about a year ago, I just need to dig Cullen's out of the box it's packed in and hang it up.
15.  Big Dill Art Print by Phil Jones, Urban Outfitters, about $19
16.  The I heart u artwork is from Target, I got it over 2 years ago and tried to find it on their website, but wasn't able to.  So maybe I should say something like, I heart u artwork, Target, vintage.

We Moved... And Here Are Some Cute Pictures

I already laid this out, but in case you forgot, we moved and so this blog is about to be somewhat taken over by new house stuff, or as Arden says, "new, NEW, house!" stuff.  Here's what we did well with our move: we packed up our cars with as much as we could the night before, we got all of our utilities straightened out at week or two ahead of time, we enlisted the help of family and friends, we rented a UHaul and drove it to Ikea... and that's about it.  Here's what we didn't do well: we were completely disorganized and didn't pack nearly as much as we should've, considering that we've known about this since March.  And that's about all I have to say, because moving is literally all about packing and being organized, there aren't any other steps besides those two.

As little boys tend to do, they wanted to help, which made me bust out my all time favorite saying from my mother, "you can be a big help by not helping."  That didn't work.  Our plans were thrown a little off schedule since both of the boys were sick and Arden couldn't go on a short vacation with the rest of my family to the beach, which is the reason that there's virtually no pictures of Cullen helping with the move.  All in all though, we didn't do too bad for ourselves.  I'm totally stoked to share some pictures of what we are going to do and what we've done.  Don't get too excited though, the only room that was a priority was the boys' bedroom, so we plan on finishing that tonight and I will post about it over the next few days... cause it's that f'ing cute, for reals.

Friday Short

First moments of officially owning our new house. 

A text from me to Jim.  

It was glorious.

There's No Place Like Ikea

Since we're quickly approaching our move, most of our weekends have been filled with lack-luster attempts to get ourselves and our stuff together and prepare ourselves for the packing and moving and all that good stuff.  Here's the thing though, mostly Jim takes my lead and my lead on this has been... poor.  I'm all, "let's wait until next weekend."  Or "how about we not pack but watch Despicable Me on ABC Family instead?"  You all get the point, if it wasn't for Jim, nothing would be getting done.

However, the one thing that I will give myself credit for is that once everything is packed and decided, I'm the one who orchestrates everything.  I know when we have the money to buy what we want, that'd be within 24 hours after our pay checks clear (you know, before we send out the bills and pay for day care), I know what day we're going to settlement and what day the power and cable and water all need to be turned on.  I know which websites are free shipping and I know how to change our address at the Post Office; Jim and I are like the yin and the yang of moving.

As any good bargain shoppers will be able to tell, our house is going to be pretty heavily influenced by Ikea. Meaning that the bargains there are unbeatable and we've got little ones that can destroy nice things in two seconds flat.  (Don't even get me started about the rainbow colored spectacle that is my cream colored living room area rug.  I wasn't even sure exactly how much play-dough typical carpet fibers could hold, but I found out: it's a lot.)  And here's the beautiful thing about Ikea, while Jim and I are power shopping (getting in and out in an hour takes intense focus), the boys are running around and bouncing off of everything and it's fine, 'cause its Ikea.  We love that about Ikea, there's very little that's going to immediately break and what is going to break, most of the time the boys aren't interested in.

When in doubt and you're moving, or you need a good way to spend an afternoon that doesn't completely wipe out your wallet, head on over to Ikea and let your kids go wild.

The Things: New House Edition

As promised last week, here's the first of many, many, many posts about our new house and all of the crap wonderful things that we are going to jam within it's freshly painted walls.  Pretty sure that anyone would be, but I'm seriously stoked for all of the purchasing and picking out and deciding about things like should we paint the appliances that came with the house or not (I think we've decided not to) that come with a new house.  Here's just a few of the seriously awesome things that I've come across in my home furnishing quest:

Temporary.  Wallpaper.  Shut up, right?  No seriously, this exists.
$84.99

via: Amazon

Cardboard Animal Heads.  Who doesn't love an awesome animal head that doesn't involve hurting animals. I do, that's who.

$30-$61

via: uncommongoods

These salt and pepper shakers are adorable.  Literally.

$13.99

via: ModCloth

Amazing curtains are a must.

$24.99-$29.99/panel

via: Target

I definitely will need to be conscious of storage, this will help with that and it looks nice too.

$350

via: ikea

An odd, yet practical choice.  I'm kinda loving this area rug.

$69.99

via: ikea

Mirrors have all of the sudden become my jam.  I love this mirror.
$204.99

via: overstock.com

Uhm, this chair speaks to me.  It's like 60's meets one of my favorite neutrals... I'm totally buying this thing and calling it a space chair.

$279.00

via: Ikea

And if the cardboard isn't enough, who doesn't love a resin deer head?  A very uncool, unhip person, that's who.

$49.95

via: ZGALLERIE

Loving this simple, yet chic pillow.  Although, I would seriously love the Jonathan Adler Woven Letter Pillow more, I could never justify spending that much.

via: Overstock.com

This chair is all sorts of amazing and I'd like to have one.
$349.95

via: Pier 1 imports

The look for less:

An amazing mirror, just what every house needs.

$249

via: Pottery Barn

But, perhaps you could have a very nice mirror for much less that's still kind of amazing.

$69.99

via: Target